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The Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment has said that the government of Nigeria has been gender-friendly and sensitive.
Permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Mr. William Alo, also added that the country has been doing everything to promote the cause of Nigerian women in the informal and formal sectors of the economy.
Speaking while the Africa Gender Innovation Lab (GIL) of the World Bank paid him a courtesy call in Abuja, Alo noted that legislations and policies in Nigeria were gender-friendly.
He said, “The government is complying with the 35% affirmative action or even beyond, women are given four months maternity leave, to enable nursing mothers stay home and take care of their babies, yet their wages are being paid.
“In the Ministry of Labour and Employment, we make sure that there is no discrimination between men and women and we preach against it. In all policies and programmes, we make sure there is equality, no discrimination of any sort, even in wages.”
He said the initiative by GIL was a welcoming idea since it was meant to promote and advance the cause of women not only in employment but economically, politically, in the formal and informal sectors, and assured the team that Nigeria was ahead of many countries championing gender equality.
In her opening remarks, Julia Viallant, leader of the GIL team, said the purpose of the visit was to figure out “what works and what doesn’t” to improve gender equality. She added that the overview of what they do is to use knowledge that is generated from studies on programes in sub-Saharan Africa that to close the gender gap and promote women’s economic empowerment.
