The First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has expressed her readiness to partner with the United Nations and its sister agencies to address various areas of concern including role of women in public life, increased participation in economy, ending gender based violence, child labour and the scourge of out of school children.
This she expressed during the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr. Matthias Schmale, and his team paid her a courtesy visit at the State House, Abuja.
Schmale promised on behalf of his organisation to collaborate with the office of the First Lady knowing her antecedents especially in the areas of Women and Children.
He also said the UN was aware of President Bola Tinubu’s stand on improving on the economic situation in the country and the UN was in support of that.
Hear him, “One issue is the role of women in public life and we are very keen on it as you. We offer our support significantly in increasing the number of women in public life in Nigeria.
“Secondly, it is our understanding that the president has made the economy an important stone, again we know that women play a key role in the economy considering food and security as a national emergency.
“We are ready to explore what more we can do to support the government and your excellence in increasing the role of women in the economy and revitalizing the economy.”
<span;>Schmale went further to affirm that the UN would support the First Lady in ensuring that issues like polio, out-of-school children, child labour and violent against women were brought to the minimal level.
“The third issue is violent. Former President Muhammadu Buhari had three years ago declared violence against women and children a national emergency; again we are offering support to the UN family in overcoming this emergency.
“Finally, there are issues around children, that we think are of particular importance, the issue of school children out of learning environment and the issue of over 15 million children under the age of 14 in child labour in Nigeria obviously needs attention.”
The First Lady, in her response, said her office was ready to accept the UN offer saying all they had stated were areas she remained passionate about and they were of importance to her.
She said her national programme, Renewed Hope Initiative, was also taking all the issues into cognizance.
She advised women should also stop looking down on themselves but improve on themselves.
“I want more women in the decision-making positions like legislative arms because if laws are not changed, this would be the same game continuously.
“However, are the women ready to sacrifice? We are the ones that need to stand to help ourselves.
“Education is very vital and I don’t believe that a woman cannot get all that she wants once she is educated; but our focus on education is for all both boys and girls and even less-privileged women.”
(Frontpage)