We’ll liberate all Chibok girls, FG assures

From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja

VICE President, Yemi Osinbajo, yesterday re­assured that the Federal Government will liberate all Chibok girls from their abductors and reintegrate them into the larger soci­ety.

Meanwhile, Director General of National Emer­gency Management Agen­cy (NEMA), Alhaji Sani Sidi, said 53 per cent of the more than million In­ternally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the country are female, while 54 per cent are children.

Osinbajo and Sidi spoke during a conference on Mainstreaming gender Is­sues in disaster manage­ment in Abuja.”

Osinbajo, who was rep­resented by a Humanitar­ian Liaison Officer in the Office of the Vice Presi­dent (OVP), Ogungbemi Olabisi, said government believed in the 17 the­matic programmes of the United Nations designed to lift millions out of poverty, educate the chil­dren, reinvigorate health service delivery, among others.

He said the programme would be diligently im­plemented with in-depth knowledge of family dy­namics and challenges faced by women and girls.

The vice president said government was fully committed to the security of lives and property of all Nigerians and the em­powerment of women to promote inclusive growth.

“This is why the Presi­dent Muhammadu Bu­hari-led government has risen to the occasion of fighting insecurity head-on in the North East by setting up multi-national joint task force to ensure that insurgents are de­graded and peace restored in that part of the coun­try,” he said.

Sidi, however, said women’s vulnerability in disaster had often been overlooked.

He regretted that wom­en were largely margin­alised in the development of disaster risk manage­ment policies and in deci­sion-making processes.

“Strong evidence from good practices of gender-sensitive disaster risk management worldwide shows that both men and women benefit from a gender-balanced approach to disaster risk manage­ment,” he said.

Although Sidi, said men were also not exempted in the impact of disasters, he insisted that they were socially and culturally ex­pected to deal with their own losses and grief alone.