Press Releases

Fashola, Akpabio Urge Nigerians To Shun Discriminations Against Women
…As COWLSO National Conference end in Lagos

Oct 30, 2009 - Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Godswill Akpabio and his Lagos State counterpart, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Friday charged Nigerians to ensure that the vaults of opportunity in the country is open to all by judging people, based on the contents of their character and not their gender.

According to both Governors who spoke at the closing ceremony of the 3-Day 9th National Women Conference of the Council of Wives of Lagos State Officials (COWLSO) held at the Expo Hall of Eko Hotels and Towers, Victoria Island, the conference should serve as a bugle call for women to rise up and resolve their challenges.

Governor Akapbio who was Special Guest of Honour, also said the 2009 conference should be referred to as the defining moment in the history of the nation and the state, urging everyone to break down barriers which had enclosed the womenfolk and set a level playing ground for them to express their potentials.

While commending the choice of the theme: ”Rethink, Renew and Resolve Your Challenges" and the topics addressed at the conference, he added that he believes that the themes were also timely and would impact positively on the public and private lives.

Said he: “As you rethink, renew yourselves and resolve your differences, be assured that you are indirectly starting a rebranding process of our women and what they stand for”.

He thanked Governor Babatunde Fashola for the great transformation going on in Lagos and for making it truly a Centre of Excellence, adding that “if there are skeptics who wonder whether democracy is the ideal form of government for our country, let them come to Lagos or let them come to my state, Akwa Ibom and their doubts would be dissolved forever”.

“We are working very hard to make Akwa Ibom, the Lagos of the South-South. But we have one challenge and that challenge is His Excellency Governor Fashola, who keeps expanding the playing field when we approach the goal posts. But so far, so good, our state is running fine and the nation is waking up to the radiance of the Land of Promise”, Governor Akpabio added.

Governor Fashola in his address said the government believes that poverty is aggravated by population explosion where too many people are sharing too few resources thus leading to a scramble.

He added that it is very clear that the battle against poverty cannot be won without a concurrent and conscious effort to control population explosion and engage family planning, stressing that the woman can play a very important role in family planning.

“It is only when we control the number of people that we have that the resources can go around. We must reduce the number. It is very important”, Governor Fashola added.

He urged the women to fight injustice of poverty which currently afflicts over six billion people with the women usually bearing the major brunt through trafficking, prostitution, abuses and so many other things in the attempt to survive.

Governor Fashola promised: “We will walk the distance with fighting injustice with you. If possible, we will lead from the front when necessary to do so. We are committed to a programme that would mitigate the injustice and hopefully eradicate it”.

The Governor also lent his voice to some of the contents of the communiqué of the conference, calling on all workers of Lagos State University Ojo to resume work in the interest of all that is good and interest of the children to sheathe their sword and resolve all the differences amicably.

He also agreed that education is too vital to be a victim of the subject of strike, adding that the administration would be looking at ways by which education like security, medical services and electricity can be classified as essential services such that people would not be allowed to down tools when there are differences.

On the issue of conscripting members of the public to enrolling their children in public schools, Governor Fashola said the constitution guarantees freedom of choice for everyone, adding that there is no reason why public schools should not be better.

In his words: “The resolve and obligation that all of us have is that all of us have is that a commitment to invest all our time and energy and resources to make sure that public schools compete and outdo the private schools”.

“I think it is only through this that we can even attract back the mix of those in private schools so that we can build together a proper education not only formal education but also education of culture and minds. The child of a driver can be in the same class with the child of a Permanent Secretary or Commissioner as it was in the past and see the two extremes of life”.

The Governor supported calls by the Conference for electoral reforms, adding that it is the most important one that must take place “It is vital that we must get it right because it helps to make choice about who to entrust with allocation of scarce resources”.

Said he: “I lend my voice to implore men and women to begin a process of informed analysis of the purpose of an election especially for our children. If we tell our kids to steer clear of electoral frauds and violence, let those who want electoral violence bring their children to come and do it for them. If we say no, we will win”.

He added that: “As I speak to you, we are building nine Maternal Child Care Centres across the State. Each has 100 beds and would be dedicated to mother and children. We will being to hand them over in the next few months”.

“We have designed the biggest campaign to reduce maternal and child mortality among our women. At the break of the campaign, we will reach out to all of you. We want you to say no to death when the vessel of life brings life”.

In terms of increased number of women in public offices, Governor Fashola said a careful scrutiny would reveal that the women now dominate in Lagos as the men are now endangered.

He commended Governor Godswill Akpabio for doing a good job in his state, adding that he shares many things in common with his Akwa Ibom counterpart who apart from being a lawyer like him was also his classmate at the Nigerian Law School.

Earlier in her closing remarks, wife of the Lagos State Governor, Mrs Abimbola Fashola said she hoped all the participants have had a very rewarding experience which has refreshed their minds and given another perspective of the critical changes which a woman must resolve to her advantage and to the progress of society.

Said she: “I believe truly that we were inspired by the Excellencies assurances that we shall not be left alone to shoulder the heavy burden of resolving the fundamental challenges we face as women”.

In a communiqué of the 9th COWLSO Conference read by Deputy Vice Chancellor, Lagos State University, Professor Olatunji Bello, the Conference called for the election of more female lawmakers as well as a need for the female lawmakers to serve the people and not themselves.

The communiqué also called on public officials to desist from sending their children to private schools but send them to public schools as it was in days gone by as well as the enactment of a law to bar educational workers from going on strike because of the nature of job they perform.

It also called on men to release their wives to contest for political positions as well as ensure that institutional arrangements are put in place for the development of women politicians.

It was also part of the communiqué that women must monitor elections to ensure that their votes count while ensuring that they possess requisite genuine qualification when contesting for political offices.

Awards were also presented to educationist and founder of Leila Fowler Memorial College for Girls, Chief (Mrs) Leila Fowler, veteran broadcaster, Mrs Bimbo Oloyede and Chi limited.

The closing ceremony which was graced by the wife of the Benue State Governor, Mrs Yemisi Suswan, representative of wives of some State Governors, members of the State Executive Council and women delegates also featured a performance by female drummer Ara.