•Tinubu’s wife in Ebonyi, seeks better life for women
From Uchenna Inya, Abakaliki
Ebonyi State was recently, a beehive of activities when women rolled out drums to celebrate their day. The week-long event attracted notable women within and outside the state.
Wife of the President, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Vice President Kasim Shettima’s wife, Nana with wives of governors graced the event with the theme: “Uplifting Women for Sustainable Development” at Women Development Centre, Abakaliki.
Wife of the state governor, Mrs. Mary-Maudline Nwifuru, led the prayers. She also led a road walk against Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
She called on the people to report any form of abuse against the girl child, women and children to her office: “I want to assure every member of Ebonyi State that we will continue to defend them especially the girl child and our boy child.
“We are fighting Gender Based Violence. Ebonyi women are against any form of maltreatment be it in the home or anywhere.
“So, if you know someone who is going through any form of maltreatment, any form of abuse, don’t hesitate to call on us. We are mothers and we are ready to fight against the abuses
“We are ready to fight the perpetrators of these abuse and bring them out for judgement. We have lawyers and we are going to prosecute anyone that maltreats women, children and girls.”
Mrs. Nwifuru implored women to value themselves in the society by making something out of themselves. She commended her spouse, the governor, for giving women great opportunities in his administration.
The celebration afforded wives of Nigeria Governors’ Forum opportunity to hold their retreat in the state. Over 23 governors’ wives attended the meeting during which they also vowed to sustain the fight against sexual and Gender-Based Violence in the country.
In a communiqué read by Professor Olufolake Abdulrazaq, Chairperson of the Nigeria Governors’ Wives Forum and wife of Kwara State governor, the forum described the retreat as opportunity for members to strategically fraternise and gain a deeper understanding of the diversities within the nation.
They pledged to vigorously advocate for adopting six months of paid maternity leave, engage executive governors and state legislators to promote the policy across all states for improved maternity and child welfare in the country:
“We have collectively endorsed the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation, Gavi Initiative, committing to sustained advocacy for HPV vaccine uptake to protect our girls’ health.
“The next line of action is a selective sensitization of wives of local government chairmen on HPV vaccine and cancer awareness.
Mrs. Tinubu inaugurated the upgraded Chuba Okadigbo Airport runway.
The N42 billion airport in Onueke, Ezza South Local Government, was constructed by the past administration of David Umahi. But it was not operational following the bad nature of the runway, which prevented aircraft from landing there. The runway was rehabilitated N20 billion.
Mrs. Tinubu said: “I am really glad we came and I see how beautiful Nigeria is. I thank God for today. It is with this honour that I commission this runway to the glory of God and the benefit of mankind.
“We pray that this runway, planes will land here safely, they will take off safely. There will never be any accident on this runway. And this runway will bring businesses to Ebonyi State.”
Nwifuru: “We came in, on May 29, 2023. As of then, we used concrete to build this runway. We didn’t know that concrete is not to be used to build runway.
“When we came in, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) closed the airport. That this place is not a place that a plane can land. We decided to start rebuilding the runway.”
Commissioner for Aviation, Ngozi Obichukwu, said the airport would commence commercial flight operations this month. She noted that all the challenges and obstacles that would have prevented the commercial flight take-off have been swiftly handled by the present administration.
Mrs. Tinubu later addressed the women at the Abakaliki Township Stadium. She donated N50 million, 20,000 wrappers, shoes and bags to support businesses of the women. She appealed to market women to refrain from undue increase in prices of food items in this yuletide.
She extolled the governor for exceeding 35 per cent in female appointments: “His deputy is a woman, same for the Secretary to the State Government and many down the line.
“I want to announce that he has also decided to empower 130 women in the state, with N1 million each, as business recapitalisation grant.”