Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has charged the leadership of the Armed Forces to encourage women to join the military.
A release by her spokesperson, Busola Kukoyi, said Mrs. Tinubu gave the charge in Abuja at the Defence Headquarter’s one-day Gender Mainstreaming Conference with the theme, Building Capacity Through Gender Mainstreaming to Meet Security Challenges.
Represented by the wife of the Vice President, Hajia Nana Shettim, the First Lady, commended the leadership of Armed Forces for organising the programme, describing the initiative as “timely”.
“The theme is apt because it is about shaping a safer, better and more equitable world for all,”the First Lady said.
“I commend the leadership of the Armed Forces of Nigeria for accepting the gender mainstreaming concept in line with the Global Best Practice and the UN Security Council Resolution 1325.”
Tinubu regretted that the security challenges confronting the nation had become increasingly complex and, “Addressing these challenges effectively requires innovative and comprehensive approaches and gender mainstreaming stands as a powerful tool in our arsenal.
“Gender mainstreaming is now much more than a charity and a policy agenda, this is a fundamental issue about the way we perceive and address security challenges”.
Security, she further posited, encompasses not only military strength, but also the protection of human rights, economic stability, social and environmental sustainability, adding that it requires a collective effort to address the issues, and advance gender mainstreaming.
“We can start by ensuring that gender perspectives are integrated into security policies and strategies, encouraging more women to join and progress within the forces,” she continued.
“We must promote women’s participation and leadership in security institutions, peace negotiations, conflict resolution efforts and bringing a more reconciliatory perspective into negotiations.”
She said that education and training programmes should include gender sensitivity and awareness amongst security personnel. Women should not be discriminated against for getting married or bearing children while in the military, she counselled.
She advised that more cooperation was required towards elimination of gender-based violence within security forces.
“Through the Renewed Hope Initiative, we have strengthened women empowerment by letting women have access to training and education,” the First Lady also informed her audience.
“Additionally, we have equipped the women with laptops and grants to support their educational and professional pursuits. This is because we believe that when you empower a woman, you empower a community and inevitably a nation. We therefore hope that the leadership within the Armed Forces will extend this dialogue beyond the confinement of this conference and empower women and ranks and their ranks.”
The Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, and the Minister of Defence, Alhaji Mohammed Baduru, applauded the First Lady and agreed to work on her recommendations.
The maiden edition of the Nigerian Defence Gender magazine which featured the First Lady on the cover was launched at the event.