NHRC urges lawmakers to pass equal opportunity bill, others

The Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission, Chief Tony Ojukwu, SAN, has again emphasised the imperatives of gender equality.

Ojukwu, who restated this on Tuesday, noted that the issue of gender equality and gender inclusiveness should at this time define the way the society is governed.

While condemning the inability of the National Assembly to pass landmark legislations on women during the constitutional reforms, he used the opportunity of this year’s International Women’s Day to again call on federal lawmakers to consider and pass the Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill, CEDAW Domestication Bill and other bills supporting affirmative action.

He said passage of the bills would reduce gender-based violations and legally equip women to challenge the inequalities confronting them.

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Ojukwu stated that gender discrimination is detrimental to the advancement of society as women with great talents and potential are neglected merely on the basis of gender.

“However, women’s prudence in resource management and developmental skills cannot be overemphasised, therefore they unarguably remain the pillars of our future, given the enabling environment and opportunity; women have the potential to turn things around to make the world great and a better place for everyone to live in,” he stated.

According to him, the theme of this year’s commemoration, “DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality,” is very apt considering the proven capacity of women in diverse fields of life such as medicine, pharmacy, digital technology, engineering and literature just to mention a few.

“Nigerian women and other women elsewhere have on different occasions proven that they can perform excellently in drawing policies and making decisions that could turn around the society; therefore they should be encouraged to unleash their best potentials for the development of the entire society,” he added.

While encouraging Nigerian women to remain focused on the struggle to achieve affirmative action, he noted that the NHRC has put different measures in place to address issues relating to violence against women.