Follow Us on Google
From Priscilla Ediare, Ado-Ekiti
Mrs Funmi Falana, a women’s rights activist, has expressed concern over the present economic hardship in the country.
The National Director of the Women Empowerment and Legal Aid (WELA) attributed the increase in the prices of goods and services to the fuel subsidy removal, which according to her, has caused untold hardship.on Nigerians in all facets of lives, calling on the federal government to come up with more practical measures to reduce the hardship.
Mrs Falana, who is the wife of the Lagos lawyer and human rights activist, Mr Femi Falana (SAN) also advised female lawyers to take up the advocacy aspect of the legal practice to have a successful career.
The Senior Advocate stated these in Iyin Ekiti, Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government Area of Ekiti State after holding her annual Christmas party with the children of Erelu Angela Adebayo Children’s Home, where she donated
noodles, bottle water, soft drinks, bar soap, detergent, pastas etc to the children.
She said : “It is unfortunate that we find ourselves in this unpalatable situation but all we just need to be doing is to keep calling on the governments to please rise up to their duties and responsibilities .
“The ripple effect is so grave such that every Nigerian is lamenting. So, our government should look for a way if they cannot reverse it and give the people sufficient palliatives because the token rolled out are not enough to sustain the Nigerian people for a very long time and we are really talking about attending to the people’s plight.
“The economy of our nation and the naira must be vibrant and viable before things can be fine and get better in our country. When this present government came, they told Nigerians that they were going to make the exchange rate parallel so that Naira can stabilise again. But we discovered that they took it from N350 or there about to N700 and since then the thing has always been going up.”
On why there are more male lawyers as Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) than female lawyers she said : “women are actually doing well in the legal profession and so many of them are doing well more than their male counterpart.
“But the problem is that we don’t have many women in the active legal practice because most of them prefer going to the bench. If you look at the bench, we have more women there even than men, they go to magistracy and from there to the higher bench.”
She added, “I keep telling people that the beauty of legal practice is advocacy. If you want to enjoy and make real impact in the legal practice, you have to go to court. Some of them are not into the advocacy because they believe going to court, taking adjournment and other things may be very hectic. I agree, legal practice is hectic but it is rewarding and interesting. You will always get fulfilled when you have that opportunity of advocating for people.”
Commenting on the hike in fuel price, the gender activist said , “This will continue because it was as a result of the rise in the exchange rate with the dollar as the dollar increases and the naira continues to fall, of course, the fuel price will continue to increase and Nigerians will continue to face hardship in terms of transportation, food, soaring prices of commodities, goods and services as ripple effect of what is happening.
“So, government should please come to the reality of governance indeed. Their responsibility is to make sure that Nigerians do not suffer. Things were not as bad over a year ago and I can say that the situation is getting worse now and they keep saying it is for a short time. For how long are we going to wait? It may not be, because anything that goes up in Nigeria don’t always come down so we are appealing to the government to please see to how to really make life better for Nigerians.”
She further urged the government to provide more palliative that will alliviate the hardship on Nigerians, saying, “What we are doing today supposed to be the duty of the government but it is not also bad for wel-meaning Nigerians who have good hearts to join the government in supporting the less privileged and the vulnerable persons in our society.
“But I want to say that it is the duty and responsibility of the government to make these ones happy, perfect and good. I also think it is better and fulfilling for an individual to help people like this instead of throwing money around at other places, because doing things like this , you will be happy with yourself that you are helping and giving back to the society that had made you what you are.”
Speaking on her elevation to the position of SAN , she said: “There is nothing I intend to do differently but I will be more committed to my women and children rights advocacy, practice of law and of course, to the emancipation of Nigeria masses . I will be more committed than ever.”
