A women’s rights advocate, Mrs Funmi Falana (SAN), has said that Nigerian women can no longer take the back seats regarding leadership positions in the country, saying it’s high time women are given more leadership positions in the governance.
The director of Women Empowerment and Legal Aid, the wife of human rights activist Femi Falana (SAN), said the time has come for young girls and women in Nigeria to take their rightful place in society by aspiring for both appointive and elective positions.
This came as the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Dayo Apata (SAN), disclosed that over 50 Ekiti indigenes have distinguished themselves in the legal profession to become Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN).
The women’s rights advocate who expressed the view that Nigerian women are not yet where they are supposed to be said it is no longer fashionable to say that the place of a woman is in the kitchen.
Mrs Falana spoke in Ado Ekiti over the weekend during the State Banquet organised by the Ekiti State Ministry of Justice in honour of new silks of Ekiti origin, part of Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s second-anniversary activities.
The senior advocates honoured on the occasion are Funmi Falana, Chief Lawrence Falade; Mrs Folasade Alli, Mr Adeoye Babatunde, Emmanuel Olayiwola, Ayoola Ajayi, Mrs Oluronke Adeyemi and Mr Adeola Adedipe.
Expressing delight with the honour conferred on her and other senior advocates by the Ekiti State Government, she described it as a wake-up call to younger ones to aspire to the top.
She said, “The lesson is that you can still be honoured in your state. The idea that a prophet is not honoured in his town does not arise again. We are glad that our state has recognised our worth and honour.
“We have been placed in a position of role model unto the younger ones, who are coming to see that if you put a lot of work into whatever you do, you can get to the top.
“My life has been the fight for women’s rights and the defence of the oppressed people of Nigeria. That has been my work, and I am sure I got this honour as a result of my work and contribution to the development of women’s law.’’
