Female parliamentarians urged to sponsor bills on women issues

Female parliamentarians urged to sponsor bills on women issues

Nigeria’s First Lady, Mrs Patience Jonathan, has urged Nigerian female parliamentarians to sponsor bills that will address specific issues that concern women.

Mrs Jonathan said this at a dinner in honour of female parliamentarians on Tuesday in Abuja, Nigeria’s Capital.

 She urged them to always explore ways of  enhancing the living conditions of Nigerian women through effective legislations.

Relevant issues

“There is need to formulate laws that will specifically address issues such as the 35 percent affirmative action for women,  female genital mutilation and widowhood rights as well as maternal and child mortality.

“When there are bills on such issues, they go through legislative processes without any hindrance and impact positively on the people,” she pointed out.

Jonathan noted with delight that some states had legislations that adequately addressed violence against women in compliance with global and regional conventions''.

“Notable among them are Inhuman Treatment of Widows (Prohibition) Law, 2004 of Edo State, Anambra State Gender and Equal Opportunities Commission Law, 2007, Abolition of Female Circumcision Law No 2 of 2011, Rivers State and the Lagos State Street Hawking Prohibition Law, 2008,” the Nigerian president’s wife said.

Legal cover for women

Mrs Jonathan noted that Nigeria has an obligation to meet the tenets of all international treaties, conventions and protocols which the country is signatory to.

She said:”We must begin to give our women their due place in the society so that our nation can move forward. As female legislators, you have critical roles to play in giving legal cover to our collective desires.

The Majority Leader, House of Representatives, Hajia Mulikat Adeola, promised that the Women Affairs Committee of the House would be more proactive in addressing all the relevant issues that concerned women through legislative processes.

Senator Aisha Alhassan (PDP Taraba) also thanked the first lady for the support she gave to all female aspirants during the elections and pledged to do her best to bring smiles to the faces of Nigerian women.

The Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Mrs Joy Emodi, also urged the female parliamentarians to support the government's transformation agenda and advised them to work as a team and seek the cooperation of their male counterparts to facilitate the successful passage of their bills.

NAN/Williams/Ekata