President Bola Tinubu is set to inaugurate a transparency and integrity brigade, mobile courts and E-market portal for women and children for adequate protection and empowerment of women in Nigeria next week Thursday, March 7, 2024.
Minister of women affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, announced this at a conference of state commissioners for women affairs organised by the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC), supported by the European Union and International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) in Abuja yesterday.
The event was themed: “Critical Issues and Opportunities for Enhancing Rights, Protection and Justice for Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities.”
Uju said the women e-Market portal will link up manufacturers, buyers, sellers and others in the marketing chain to encourage entrepreneurship, skill acquisition and self-reliance.
She said, “So, we’re putting up measures and will be bringing on board the integrity brigade of which all commissioners for women affairs and traditional rulers are part of. These are some of the ways we want to save Nigeria. We can’t do this alone and the Women Affairs ministry cannot do this alone.
“We’re asking for Nigerians to volunteer and join what we call integrity brigade. With this brigade, we will be able to fish out things that belong to women and children who are over 70 per cent of Nigeria’s population. If we take care of their problems, automatically, the nation will do well.
“On March 7, 2024, the president will be unveiling the integrity brigade, mobile courts, E-market portal for women and so many other things. After March 7, no more business as usual, you will see action. Nobody will leave a stone unturned. If you tamper with any woman or child, you will get the result. We are equally telling the women not to look for trouble because if they look for trouble they won’t get support.”
The minister further assured that youths, women, vulnerable persons with disabilities will be strongly involved in all programmes of government.
The head of programme, International IDEA, Nigeria, Danladi Plang, urged states to implement the Child’s Rights Act (CRA) and the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act (VAPP) in order to curb any form of violence, especially gender-based violence.
Plang said the event was to draw attention to some of the key challenges that women, children and persons with disabilities in Nigeria face when they want to access the justice system.
