Quote:
“Men should create more space, for the women to walk beside them and not behind them”- Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos state.
Women are the vessels of life. Only they know the secret pains of childbirth and the sheer weight of the poverty, the insults and the health challenges they endure, all in the bid to nurture the boys to men. The unfortunate situation however, is that not a few of such men grow up to degrade, demonize and even deny the women their rightful place in the scheme of things. But the time has come for that puerile paradigm to change for good. This time around, the shift should be skewed in favour of the womenfolk. And why not, as such a noble move would eventually benefit us all.
Interestingly,all these and more came to the fore during the recent launch of the United Nations ‘HeforShe’ Campaign as canvassed by the Chief Gender Champion(CHC) for gender equality, amiable Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos state.Launched by UN Women in 2014 the global campaign is a solidarity movement aimed at engaging men and boys to become the change agents.And honestly, there could have been no better Nigerian politician to hold aloft the torch of Gender Equality, at this material time than him. Ample empirical evidencesgive life to this claim.
For instance, even before the event he had received an award as the numerouno champion for gender parity in the country. In fact, for the first time in the history of Nigeria, and specifically Lagos state there are 12 eminently qualified women in the Executive Council, including several female permanent secretaries. In addition, the engineers carrying out several constructions of infrastructures,including drainages across the state are all women. Sanwo-Olu is therefore, demonstrating his firm belief that women are incredibly endowed with potentials that if rightly harnessed would galvanize societal growth and development.
Backed with the tacit support of his committed wife, Dr.(Mrs) Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu the state engaged in a series of related activities for a stretch of 16 good days in the past year. It was to drum home the message of zero tolerance for all forms of violence against women, including domestic violations of rights such as wife battering, rape, incest and brutalization of minors.
Beyond that,Sanwo-Olu has been walking the talk on women empowerment, not by mere rhetoric but through impactful actions through the Ministry for Women Empowerment and Poverty Alleviation(WaPa).As reflected in his speech during the momentous occasion, such empowerment programmes would henceforth be on quarterly basis.
In a critical, thought-provoking treatise he observed that statistics in different countries, spanning centuries, in terms of population reveal that the ratio of women- to- men hovers around 51-to-49 or similar range. To him, what that portrays is the need for gender equality. You cannot have two hands and disenfranchise one! Only when you put the two of them to work that you stand to achieve better results.
Said he: “Why would we want to disenfranchise a better half of the population which happens to be women?It’s a simple analysis for men to understand and realize that it’s when we work with both hands that we can do better.
“In Lagos State we are committed to reflecting and appreciating the other half of us and that is why we have a higher percentage of female permanent secretaries.Women do not need to fight for equality but men should be the ones supporting and fighting for them.
Furthermore, he sees the ‘HeforShe’ Campaign as a clarion call on the male gender to sign up to this laudable initiative. The reason is simple- it is an idea that the society as a whole would benefit from. He urged the men to grant women a wider space “to walk beside them instead of behind them”. They should therefore, eschew all forms of misgivings and violations of the rights of women, be they their wives, daughters or mothers.
As well articulated by the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Mrs. Cecelia Bolaji-Dada the campaign is in tandem with the THEMES Agenda of the Sanwo-Olu-led administration. It is when both men and women enjoy peace, security and gender parity that meaningful progress could be made in the society. She was also delighted by the presence of traditional rulers, several Non- Governmental Agencies(NGOs), the Managing Director of Polaris Bank, Mr. Tokunbo Abiru and of course, the UN Women Deputy Executive Director, Åsa Regnér.
It was he, Regnérwho expressed immense delight that Lagos state government was championing the ‘HeforShe’ Campaign in Nigeria.This is a country, which though leads the African continent in several developmental parameters ranks abysmally low in promoting gender equality,with a dismal 0.825ranking! That Sanwo-Olu could have as many as 12 female members of the executive council was therefore, a source of joy for him and the UN.
Other Nigerian leaders should therefore, take a cue from Lagos state, whose leadership focus is “visionary”.He likened it to the efforts of the International Monetary Fund(IMF) whose macro-economic view of investing in the health, educational and economic empowerment of women was yielding an expanded revenue tax base. Lagos, he noted was doing a similar thing with Balogun market.
Regnér commended Sanwo-Olu for championing gender equality in a similar way that the likes of Emmanuel Jean-Michael Macron, the president of France, Paul kegame, president of Rwanda and Uganda’s president, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni have been doing. They all have been at the fore front of bridging the historical imbalance between women and men in their respective countries.
It is instructive to note, that in a bold bid to strengthen the critical issue of gender equality in the state, the Commissioner of Justice and Attorney General, Mr. MoyosoreOnigbanjo (SAN), has assured that relevant laws were being put in place against domestic violence in all its manifest ramifications.
With the decoration of Gender Champions the clear message has been sent across the strata of the society, to make the desired change for gender equality. Those so decoratedincluded the Governor, the Deputy Governor, Dr. ObafemiHamzat; Attorney General of the State, MoyosoreOnigbanjo; Managing Director, Polaris Bank, TokunboAbiru; Oba of Elegushi land, SaheedElegushi; representatives of the Christian and Moslem faiths as well as Youth representatives.
As the Managing Director of Polaris Bank, Abiru, who pledged financial support for the Campaign canvassed, it is time for like minds to join hands in the frontal battle against gender inequality. To do so, let us all reflect on the words ofRegnér, whorightly noted that, “government is efficient only when there is diversity of opinions” and that would come from men and women, whoenjoy gender equality.