The Nigeria government has inaugurated the third National Action Plan (NAP), technical working Committee of the United Nations Security Council Resolution, UNSCR-1325, on women, peace and security.
The Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen stated this in Abuja, at a media briefing to commemorate the 22nd anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Security Council Resolution, UNSCR-1325, since its establishment in the year 2000.
She said the UNSCR recognizes women’s role as peace builders and agents of change, thereby stressing increased women’s participation in conflict prevention and peace-building processes, at all levels.
According to the her, the ministry had been proactive in the implementation of the UNSCR-1325 and had made remarkable progress in the first and second NAP.
She expressed optimism that the third NAP would address emerging security issues affecting the nation.
“We are confident that it will capture emerging peace and security issues from femininity, humanitarian and human rights perspectives amongst others and it would be a great instrument to address various fragments of insecurity situations experienced in almost every nook and cranny of our society,” she said.
The minister noted that one of the major achievements in the implementation was the domestication of the NAP by 15 States.
The states include “Adamawa, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Delta, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Kwara, Kogi, Nasarawa, Plateau, Rivers and Yobe states.
While applauding the states for their efforts in domesticating the NAP, the minister appealed to them to make budgetary provisions for the implementation.
The Minister also called on other states yet to start the process to consider it as a matter of urgency as “women’s adequate participation in conflict resolution and peace processes remains the panacea to the heightened insecurity situation around the world and within the country”.
“We have Launched a website for Nigeria on Women, Peace and Security (www.wpsnigeria.net). The website serves as a collective repository and community of practice on the WPS agenda” she said.
The UN Women Deputy Country Representative, Mr Lansana Wonneh noted that funding, monitoring and evaluation were some of the challenges in the implementation and stressed the need to address it for more success.
“Nigeria has been in the forefront in promoting women peace agreement,” he added.
A member of the committee, Dr Lydia Umar, assured that the diverse and intergenerational members of the group from all sectors would use their expertise to contribute towards resolving security issues in the country.
The President, Medical Women’s International Association, Dr Eleanor Nwadinobi, said the successes recorded in the previous NAP’s led to the domestication of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act.
The 25-member committee have a time frame of five months to launch the document for the 3rd National Action plan
The UNSCR 1325 unanimously passed in 2000, currently has 103 countries that have developed and adopted NAPs and related resolutions.
