Kaduna Governor pledges to appoint more women in govt

El-Rufai made the pledge in Kaduna at the 2nd Women Economic Empowerment Summit, with the theme: Enabling access and participation; Linking women to Resources.

The News Agency of Nigeria [NAN] reports that the governor had already appointed three women as commissioners, while the state Head of Service is also a woman.

El-Rufai said his administration appreciates the important role women play in the development of the state.

He urged the women to develop a road map to guide the government in addressing the challenges facing them.

According to him, the government had established gender desk in all Ministries Departments and Agencies in the state to address women issues.

He announced that the government plans to set up the Kaduna State Peace Commission and would appoint a woman as Executive Vice Chairman.

NAN reports that the bill to establish the Peace Commission is currently before the state House of Assembly awaiting approval.

Earlier, the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Hafsat Baba said the success of the first women summit informed the hosting of another one to tackle challenges already identified.

” The ministry believes that access to timely information is of great importance to women businesses and empowerment.

” The summit is planned to explore knowledge, information technology and social linkages to enable women participate as full and informed players in the business environment.

“We have deliberately invited men and women from different professions and sectors to this summit to advise us on various areas we can work together for gender mainstreaming and social inclusion in our dear state, ” Baba said.

The commissioner commended development partners and advocacy groups that facilitated the summit.

NAN reports that the summit was supported by Enhancing Nigerian Advocacy for Better Business Environment (ENABLE2), Synagos Nigeria, UNILIVER and Power Oil.

Meanwhile, the summit has set up eight syndicate groups to develop roadmap to tackle gender challenges from different business sectors including Agriculture, Education, Health, Governance, Commerce, Security and ICT.

One of the resource person, Katha Nwator said her organisation was working with the state authorities to address gaps in providing agricultural inputs to women farmers.

Nwator said challenges and gaps slowing down women participation in Agriculture, Health and Sanitation issues must be addressed.

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She pledged that her organisation, Synergos Nigeria, would work with the Women Affairs and Agriculture ministries to address the issue of gender in agriculture.

She also said effort was being made to address the alleged fraudulent activities in fertiliser procurement by women and imposition of illegal taxes in parts of the state.

According to her, social media platform would be used to provide information among women farmers in the state.

She advised women farmers to register their cooperative groups in a well structured manner to enable them access various agriculture credit facilities.