National gender policy to enhance women devlpt
Stories from ATIKU S. SARKI, Abuja

THE minister of women affairs, Mrs. Inna Maryam Ciroma, has said that once the National Gender Policy for Nigeria is adopted, the policy will capacitate strategic skills for engineering the implementation of important programmes for women development.
She also said that the policy will become an effective vehicle for the actualization of other developmental instruments such as CEDAW, NEEDS, SEEDS, NEPAD and MDGs as well as being an important new cornerstone in the arsenal of national and states gender machineries.
The minister, who disclosed this at the occasion of finalization and adoption of National Gender Policy for Nigeria last Thursday in Abuja, further said it is expected that when the policy is finalised and passed, the issue of gender mainstreaming and women’s human rights in the country will be greatly enhanced.
“This policy when passed in conjunction with other instruments will provide standards, which will set essential benchmarks to measure performance of our country as regards promotion of gender equality,” she said.
Mrs. Ciroma explained the process that culminated into the finalization and adoption of National Gender Policy meeting started in August last year, with the engagements of three consultants and three technical assistants by her ministry with an efforts to forge greater gender equality through the development of the policy.
In concrete terms, she said, the National Gender Policy for Nigeria will, among others, contribute towards women’s empowerment, reduce unequal gender relations in the workplace and economy and will encourage the participation, support and cooperation of men in taking shared responsibility for the elimination of sexism and redefining of oppressive gender roles.
The minister, while appreciating the role of our various partners to both within and outside government that have played in supporting the process, however noted that the policy will further increase the participation of women in leadership and decision making, as well will increase awareness and gender sensitivity in all sectors.
Earlier in her welcome address, the director of women affairs in the ministry, Dr. Habiba Lawal, had said that the ministry of women affairs is charged with the responsibility for promoting the welfare and advancement of women and children.
According to her, the federal ministry of women affairs as the Nigerian national gender machinery and in line with her national and international obligations, provides implementation policy guidelines on various concerns of women and children and designs programmes that make for the full realization of women’s and men’s potentials to enable them contribute meaningfully to the nation building.
Dr. Lawal expressed that the development of a National Gender Policy will address the gender imbalances in our society and therefore would strengthened the institutional effectiveness and improve our knowledge of gender mainstreaming as well a step towards achieving goal of MDGs.