The Speaker of the House of Representatives Rt. Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, Ph.D, has said the 10th plans to break the jinx of gender bills in the ongoing review of the 1999 Constitution, saying the parliament is resolute about the mission.
While receiving the national leadership of the National Council of Women Societies (NCWS) on a courtesy call at his office in Abuja on Thursday, the Speaker disclosed that the 10th House is more “sympathetic to women.”
This is just as the Acting President of the NCWS, Mrs. Geraldine Ita Etuk, decorated Speaker Abbas with a muffler of the umbrella body of women associations in the country for being a ‘Global He-for-She.’
The Speaker described Thursday as “another day of history for a body of all women groups” visiting his office to appreciate him.
“We are truly a People’s House… a house built on the sanctity of human rights,” Speaker Abbas partly said, while stating that, “We are determined more than ever before to break the jinx.”
He noted that “this Assembly, with the kind of people we have around who are sympathetic to women,” would pass bills seeking to empower women, adding that the endless failures of the proposals “will be a thing of the past.”
“We are resolute. We are determined,” the Speaker stated while informing the NCWS delegation that the House, based on its priority for women, created two standing committees for them: Committee on Women Affairs and Social Development, and Committee on Women in Parliament. He explained that the move was to portray the gender-friendly nature of the 10th House.
Speaker Abbas urged the NCWS to “continue to help us by engaging as many people as possible who are stakeholders.”
The Acting President of the NCWS, Etuk, who spoke earlier, thanked the Speaker for his pro-women actions and campaigns, especially towards women empowerment and gender equality.
Etuk called for training and capacity building programmes for women while seeking more presence for the NCWC across the country.
Signed:
Musa Abdullahi Krishi, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Speaker, House of Representatives, Federal Republic of Nigeria.
