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Inauguration: ActionAid calls for 50% affirmation for women

Published

5 years ago

May 21, 2019

ActionAid Nigeria (AAN), a Non-governmental Organisation (NGO) has called for 50 per cent affirmative action on women political inclusion in the country’s politics.

Mrs Ene Obi, Country Director of the organisation made the call in Abuja on Tuesday at a press conference on Women Political Participation.

Obi also demanded accountability from the government on its commitment to gender equality as the country had signed on to it through the National Gender Policy.

” We have moved from the silencing, subjugation and discrimination of women and girls expressed through cultural norms and practices from the earlier years (1950s-1990s) to some level of recognition of women and girls’ right in Nigeria.

” Women are now organising and challenging the patriarchal systems that suppress their dignity and autonomy at community, state and national levels.

“We have gained traction in dismantling these cultural norms and practices that sometimes transcend into national lives and space where sexism and sexist ideologies and policies are expressed to legislations and policies that promotes the rights of women and girls in Nigeria.

” We have seen increase in the opening of spaces and processes for women’s participation in decision making.

” We have also witnessed many women being included in the traditional councils which used to be a closed space for women in states like Enugu, Kaduna and Ebonyi.”

Obi, however, regretted that the slow gains over the years in advancing women’s rights and the achievement of gender equality in Nigeria, especially in the area of women’s political participation was being eroded by lack of political will to create the enabling environment.

She added that women’s equal participation in decision making was not a demand for justice or democracy but should be seen as a necessary condition for women’s interest to be taken into account.

” Without the perspective of women at all levels of decision making, the goals of equality, development and peace cannot be achieved.

” We therefore challenge and demand a response from President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration and all state governors especially given the next political dispensation to ensure at least 50 per cent of his cabinet are women.

“The state government should also ensure meaningful and strategic inclusion of women in appointive positions at the state and local government levels,” she said.

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NAPTIP Restates Commitment To Fighting Human Trafficking

Published

2 days ago

July 25, 2024

The Gleamer

Joel Ajayi

… decries corruption in law enforcement, weak legislation

The Director-General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Prof. Fatima Waziri-Azi, has pledged the agency’s commitment to fight human trafficking.

Waziri-Azi gave the assurance during an anti-corruption radio program, PUBLIC CONSCIENCE, produced by the Progressive Impact Organization for Community Development, PRIMORG, in Abuja.

The commitment by NAPTIP follows an investigative report by Human Angle Media exposing how many Nigerians trafficked to Egypt are inhumanely treated and exploited by their sponsors.

Represented by the agency’s Director of Public Enlightenment, Mrs. Kehinde Akomolafe, decried the rising number of Nigerians who are victims of trafficking, pledging that “NAPTIP is fighting on all sides to curb human trafficking.”

Akomolafe disclosed that the agency is aware of the report of Nigerians trafficked to Egypt and has already commenced interventions to rescue them while warning citizens to be wary of “offers that are too good to be true.”

She identified weak legislation, lengthy judicial processes, and corrupt law enforcement officials as factors aiding and abetting trafficking in Nigeria and elsewhere in the world.

“Corruption is endemic and cuts across other countries of the world, and that’s why trafficking is easily perpetrated in Nigeria and around the globe. You find law enforcement officials aiding and abetting traffickers. Some of them know these traffickers from their operations either at the entry or exit point. They give them something or become too familiar with them.

“Apart from the bribery aspect, we also have officials turning a blind eye to trafficking activities, and that’s why for us at the agency (NAPTIP), we are not resting.”

According to her, the agency, from inception, secured 672 convictions, 67 in 2023, and 35 persons so far this year (2024). She added that “NAPTIP is winning the war against trafficking but still wants stiffer punishment for traffickers and the support of the judiciary in hastening cases.

“weak legislation is aiding trafficking. That’s why the agency continues pushing for amendments. Currently, NAPTIP is pushing for stiffer punishment against traffickers that will lead to confiscation of their monies and property.

“NAPTIP Director-General (Prof. Fatima Waziri-Azi) is fighting on all sides against human trafficking.

“Where law enforcement officials are found complicit, NAPTIP Director-General does not take it lightly; she doesn’t compromise her anti-corruption stance even when a staff is involved,” Akomolafe stated.

According to the Editor of Southern Operations, Human Angle Media, Kabir Adejumo, many Nigerians trafficked to Egypt engage in forced labour. They are also living in fear as authorities go after illegal immigrants.

Adejumo said victims interviewed during the investigation are willing and interested in returning home, but their sponsors refuse to release their travel passports and threaten to implicate them.

He also revealed that the NAPTIP and Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) are aware of the plight of Nigerians trafficked in Egypt and have currently rescued one person.

On her part, the Programme Manager of the Human Angle Foundation, Angela Umoro-David, expressed satisfaction at NAPTIP’s response to trafficking cases while urging the agency to stay on course with their mandate.

Umoro-David called on Nigerians to use a Freedom of Information platform (foi.humananglemedia.com) to help citizens navigate requests for public records from different government parastatals and agencies.

She stressed that the platform “is a website where people can submit their FOI requests to us (Human Angle), and we’ll submit it on their behalf to the particular agency. So we act as middlemen, connecting these government parastatals to the citizens”.

Public Conscience is a syndicated weekly anti-corruption radio program PRIMORG uses to draw government and citizens’ attention to corruption and integrity issues in Nigeria.

The program has the support of the MacArthur Foundation

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