Chief Tony Ojukwu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission, C, has reiterated the need for federal lawmakers to pass the Equal Opportunity and other related Bills currently before them, into laws.
Ojukwu restated this on Tuesday, saying that the issue of gender equality and gender inclusiveness should at this time define the way the society is governed.
He condemned the inability of the National Assembly to pass landmark legislations on women during the constitutional reform programme.
He therefore used the opportunity of this year’s International Women’s Day to also make case for CEDAW Domestication Bill and other bills supporting affirmative action.
He said passage of the bills would reduce gender-based violations and legally equip women to challenge the inequalities confronting them.
The NHRC boss stated that gender discrimination is detrimental to the advancement of society as women with great talents and potential are neglected merely on the basis of gender.
He said that “Women’s prudence in resource management and developmental skills cannot be overemphasised. Therefore they unarguably remain the pillars of our future, given the enabling environment and opportunity; women have the potential to turn things around to make the world great and a better place for everyone to live in.”
According to him, the theme of this year’s commemoration, “DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality,” is very apt considering the proven capacity of women in diverse fields of life such as medicine, pharmacy, digital technology, engineering and literature just to mention a few.
“Nigerian women and other women elsewhere have on different occasions proven that they can perform excellently in drawing policies and making decisions that could turn around the society; therefore they should be encouraged to unleash their best potentials for the development of the entire society,” he added.
He encouraged Nigerian women to remain focused on the struggle to achieve affirmative action, noting that the NHRC has put different measures in place to address issues relating to violence against women.