Women Have A Role To Play In National Development – Sanusi

Ex Emir of Kano, Alh. Muhammadu Sanusi II has pledged to continue challenging the social values that hinder progress towards achieving gender equality in Nigeria.

He revealed this at the Intergenerational Dialogue on Gender equality with the theme: “I am generation equality; realizing women’s rights and social justice” which held in Abuja yesterday.

According to him, he will not stop speaking against marriage to children under the age of 18 and the imbalance dogging women’s participation in national development initiatives must be faster.

He added that the people in government must reconcile traditional values with progressive ideas in relation to the issue of women’s inclusion in society.

His words, “Women hold the key to continuity of life, human progress and development. The progress of the nation depends on how women raise their children.

“Culturally, we love and honour mothers. Therefore, I implore everyone to embrace the noble status of women not just at the workplace but from the early beginnings of a girl child’s life.

“We must continue to dialogue and challenge the social values that continue to hamper progress in the area of gender equality. So, I will continue to advocate against child marriages under the age of 18.”

“It’s sad that COVID-19 has come to disrupt Nigeria’s outing at the UN CSW. The general ministerial debate and the roundtables on the progress and challenges recorded since 25 years of the Beijing platform for action has been cancelled,”

“Looking at women in parliament, globally the average is 22.8 percent as of 2016. In Uganda, it is 63.8 percent which means there are more women parliamentarians than men in that country. But in Nigeria, the average is less than six percent.”