The theme, “Women, Align, don’t Compromise”, is both a plea and call to action.
There is indeed no better time than now to reflect on what the Nigerian woman is capable of doing in our drive to entrench civility and modernity in our body polity. I have never doubted the resourcefulness, competence, dedication and sincerity of Nigerian women in our march to greatness.
The Nigerian woman is an embodiment of productivity, strength, excellence, prosperity, discipline and accountability. There is no gainsaying the fact that a typical Nigerian woman is a prudent manager, great mobiliser, resourceful administrator, nation builder and strategic planner. We have indeed proven ourselves and recorded remarkable feats across disciplines, sectors and vocations.
We are specially created by God to serve specific purposes. This is simply why we cannot afford to lag behind or be completely left out of genuine efforts geared towards attaining our full potential as a nation. Women have continued to play very critical roles both in the public and private sectors. So, the skewed narrative that women are only to be seen and not heard is completely untrue and false.
I know women serving as CEOs of top flight companies. I know women sitting on the boards of top blue chip companies, like Mrs. Ibukun Awosika of First Bank Nigeria among others. We equally have cerebral and high flying women like Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Mrs. Ifueko Omogui Okauru, Retired DIG of Police, Peace Ibekwe Abdallah, Chimamanda Adichie, Hadiza Bala Usman, Eugenia Abu, Doyin Abiola and several others. These are just few out of the millions of women who are daily offering their best across sectors and doing Nigeria proud.
Quite naturally, there is alot to gain when people choose to come together, put aside their differences, find common ground instead of working or going individually. Our greatest drawback is that we hardly unite and support each other as women.
If we are truly serious in our quest to play active role in politics and governance, then we must do away with such retrogressive practice. Women, please let us come together and forge a common front. Alliance is also very important in our drive to become politically relevant and useful. Let us take advantage of our numerical strength intellectual prowess and innate talents to project ourselves and aspirations.
The more united, focused, aligned and connected we are, the higher our chances of making remarkable impacts in our engagements, politically or socially. The Nigerian woman has all it takes to bring about the much needed change that has eluded us as a people. She knows what the issues are. She has the mental and imaginative resources to profer lasting solutions to such problems.
Lack or absence of a formidable alliance has been the missing link. Thankfully, today’s meeting offers us an opportunity and platform to critically outline, disect and analyse the issues. At the heart of the issue is the need to unite and be ready to support each other.
All these lofty ambitions cannot be achieved if we fail to accord priority attention to the educational and social needs of the girl child. The more educated the girl child is, the more confident, resourceful and beneficial she would be to herself, society and humanity in general. The number of young girls who are presently out of school and engage in menial jobs across our towns and villages is quite worrisome.
Our efforts would amount to nothing if we do not make strong commitments on how to address the plights of the girl child. Touching stories of how some of them are forced into early marriages or given out to older male partners have become so regular in the news. This is truly one issue I expect women-based NGOs and civil society organisations to amplify and deal with. It is our responsibility to protect and secure our girls from any form of harm.
Going forward, there is still a lot more to do for us to take our pride of place and play key roles in order to make Nigeria great and prosperous. Beyond gathering at women events to listen to each other, we must pledge to always support and encourage ourselves as women to take up greater roles and responsibilities in the larger society. It is high time we rose up to the challenge of becoming champions and advocates of responsive and responsible governance across the tiers of government.
Ultimately, always believe in yourselves. You aren’t an inferior being. In you are talents, potential, gifts and treasures that you require to make a difference within and outside your area of influence. Be the change, development and progress that you desire to see in Nigeria.
My dear women, the time to give our best to our dear country is now. Let’s begin to plan and strategise towards participating actively in a few elections scheduled to hold in some states before 2023.
The biggest political mistake we often make as women is that we hardly plan ahead of elections. There is the need for constant meeting, dialogue and consultations ahead of elections. Strategy is a basic ingredient in political calculation. It involves deliberate planning, apportioning of roles and responsibilities, setting targets and timelines as well as engaging the right stakeholders well ahead of time.
Finally, I think we are better informed and much more aware of what is expected of us as women who are passionate about politics and governance in Nigeria. Let this conversation continue as we engage other Nigerians in our respective locations. Let’s scale down on rhetorics and match our words with actions. Nigeria is ours to build, plough, develop and not to plunder.
Thank you!
– Safiya Stephanie Musa
