Mrs Bolanle Ambode, wife of the Lagos State Governor
Lagos State Government and women across the 20 Local Governments and 37 Local Council Development Areas have joined their counterparts across the world to celebrate the Y2019 International Women’s Day with a call on policymakers to create more opportunities for women to contribute their quota to national development.
Speaking at the event held at Police College, Ikeja, Lagos, the wife of the State Governor, Mrs. Bolanle Ambode, said that further inclusion will afford women more opportunities to add value to the economy of the State and the Nation.
Mrs. Ambode attributed the positive development in the educational sector to the active involvement of few women at the helm of affairs and the indirect contributions of other women who are encouraging their children to attach value to education.
She also commended women who have broken through the glass ceiling to influence and inspire others through the feats they have attained in their various professional fields in the corporate and the business world.
These feats, according to her, have aided a shift in the perception of men about the opposite sex as women are no longer seen as alternatives but rather as progressive partners.
She also encouraged women to take the opportunity of financial inclusion that the State offers to further enhance their standard of living while also advising them not to relent in their efforts to ensure proper parenting by creating standards and values that will make the younger ones valuable to the society.
Speaking on the theme of the 2019 International Women’s Day “Balance for Better”, the Lagos State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. (Mrs.) Lola Akande said that the theme underscored the need for women to continuously work hard to close the socio-political and economic gap with the male gender for the stability and economic progress of the country.
She said “Today, we are charged to renew our spirit and increase our determination to reach higher grounds. That is why we must ‘Balance for Better’. You will agree with me that if this large crowd of women present here resolve to collectively look into the future and chart a new course for women, our world will surely be a better place”.
Dr. Akande opined that it was time for men to join hands with women to fight the gender imbalance in the political sphere, stressing that the challenges confronting today’s women, if not jointly tackled, have a vicious tendency of affecting the wellbeing of families and the larger societies worldwide.
“I appeal to our men to wage war against domestic violence and all forms of discrimination against women; they should champion the campaign to restore fully the dignity and rights of women because they are partners in the task of raising children from peaceful homes towards evolving a better society”, the Commissioner implored.
Highlighting some efforts aimed at supporting women by the State Government, she recalled that government has continually expressed its total commitment to the cause of women by embarking on different initiatives that ensure financial independence towards taking charge of their lives by being self-reliant.
In doing this, Akande stated that the present administration has taken women empowerment as one of its focal policies to mitigate the effects of poverty that is prevalent among women, noting that “the establishment of 17 functional skill acquisition centres across the State has been a masterstroke initiative which has helped to serve as panacea to unemployment particularly among women and young persons in the State”.
