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From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The First Lady, Aisha Buhari, has called for the promotion of women equality and empowerment for social development.
Buhari made the call during the Women in Culture event organised by the Spouse of the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Liang Huili, in commemoration of the International Women’s Day.
Buhari who was represented by the Special Assistant to the President on Women Affairs and Administration, Rukayatu Gurin, said the theme for the 2022 International Women’s Day celebration, ‘Gender Equality for Sustainable Development’ not only identified with the vital role of women in sustainable development, but also signified the role of women as mothers, sisters, and daughters in engineering sustainable development.
The role, Buhari added, cannot be effectively executed without promoting partnerships and collaborations in the provision of education, health and empowerment to women and youth.
She said her foundation, the Aisha Buhari Foundation and Future Assured, have in partnership and collaborations contributed a lot to the development of women, youth and children.
“The Foundation has provided material support and empowerment to women and other vulnerable groups. It has also built schools for the vulnerable and attended to their health needs to reduce the effects of climate change and accelerate development.
“I thank the Chinese Ambassador for supporting my projects, especially in building the Future Assured College in Maiduguri, Borno State. The partnership efforts will definitely go a long way into educating the youth on gender equality, providing knowledge and skills for sustainable development.
“Climate change has undoubtedly brought about new challenges in our lives, especially on woman. Nevertheless, with effective partnership, we shall overcome these challenges.
“On this special day therefore, I thank the Ambassador and our development partners for working hard to promote women development. To our women, I salute your resilience and encourage you to do more. To our stakeholders, I urge you to network more and intensify efforts to do more for women and youth to reduce the effects of climate change. We need everybody’s support in providing education, health, employment and empowerment for women and the vulnerable. The Aisha Buhari Foundation has taken the initiative of ensuring that women, youth and children are prepared for brighter future. I therefore call upon all, to join hands in promoting women equality and empowerment for sustainable development. I thank you all for listening,” Buhari said.
On her part, Liang noted that women are founders of human civilization and promoters of social progress, hence special indicators to measure the progress of social civilization.
Liang said China, in realizing the importance of women, implemented the basic national policy of equality between men and women, thereby incorporating women’s development into national economic and social development plans.
“With joint efforts of the whole society, Chinese women have made great progress in all fields, their status in economics, decision making management, health, education have been continuously improved.
“The gender gap narrowed from 4.1 percentage points higher for females than males in 2010 to 2.8 percentage points higher.
“The proportion of female employees in the whole society remains above 40 per cent, the poverty alleviation of rural poor women has achieved an overall victory.
“By the end of 2020, women accounted for about half of the nearly 100 million people who had been lifted out of poverty.
“The proportion of deputies to the National Women’s Congress and members of the Chinese People’s Consultative Congress is the highest in history,” Liang said.
