13022020

Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2020 — 25
Why Sanwo-Olu is
empowering women
— WAPA Commissioner
Mrs, Cecilia Bolaji Dada is the Lagos State Commissioner for Women
Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, WAPA. In this brief interview with Morenike
Taire, Woman Editor, Vanguard Newspapers and Olasunkanmi Akoni, an
Assistant News Editor, speaks on various topics bordering on female, male
gender and how the state Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu is lifting women
out of poverty. She stressed that women are supposed to be peace agents at
home and the society. Excerpts:
THE essence of the annual
workshop on women’s peace
and security in Lagos State
In October 2000, the United
Nations Security Council adopted
Resolution 1325 (UNSCR
1325) on Women Peace and Security,
which was an important step
in bringing Women’s Rights and
Gender Equality to bear on the
U.N Peace and Security Agenda.
This agenda was tailored towards
involving women in peace building,
reconstruction and gender
mainstreaming efforts for gender
equality in international peace
and security work.
And we are trying to cascade this
by enjoining other counterparts of
the World to sensitize Security Personnel’s
on the need to align with
the UN’s resolution which reaffirms
the importance of equal participation
and involvement of
women in all processes of peace
keeping, conflict resolution and
management within their environments.
Therefore, bringing together security
personnel to collaborate
with the ministry will ensure the
prevention of conflict and all forms
of violence against women and
girls, further institute coping mechanisms
and systems for averting
and mitigating disaster. Affirmative
action will be initiated which
include a plan to strengthen the
Women’s Political Trust Fund, technical
capacity building activities
and provisions for enhanced cooperation
with civil society.
What about regular women on
the streets
That is why we are targeting
heads of departments across councils
so that they can cascade it to
the women at the grassroots to
talk to them on how to relate it.
Security personnel are respected
figures in any society and their
roles in societal development cannot
be overemphasized.
I like to appreciate the Heads of
Department-WAPA (HOD WAPA -
LGAs/LCDAs) who also, have been
a source of great support to the
ministry in disseminating information
on gender based violence
matters to its citizenries at grass
root levels.
However, their continual collaboration
with the ministry would
help to curb gender inequality,
take effective measures to eradicate
harmful traditional practices
such as child or forced marriage,
discriminatory inheritance
laws, widowhood practices and
those customs that justify and perpetuate
them for a greater Lagos.
It is my sincere hope and belief
that this workshop will inspire creative
ideas and proffer innovative
ways on how our Security Personnel
can help collaboratively to
combat gender inequality and
women’s participation and representation
in decision making processes
in their different domains
within the state.
Relationship of women, peace,
security in a society, because it’s
a big issue in Nigeria today
There is a saying, an hungry man
is an angry man, When somebody
is poor, he is bound to be angry
and violent. So relatively, there is
relationship between poverty, security
and peace.
Women are supposed to be peace
agents and that’s one of the reasons
we are bringing them together
to talk about peaceful co-existence
among the people of in Lagos
and we as women are the supposed
to champion the cause as
peace agents.
There is a saying, an hungry man
is an angry man, When somebody
is poor, he is bound to be angry
and violent. So relatively, there is
relationship between poverty, security
and peace.
Women are supposed to be peace
agents and that’s one of the reasons
we are bringing them together
to talk about peaceful co-existence
among the people of Lagos
and we, as women are the supposed
to champion the cause as
peace agents.
As women, we should always tell
ourselves the truth by saying, you
refuse to be a fool. Anger lies in
the bosom of fools. So when you
are provoked, angered, always tell
yourself you will refuse to be a fool.
We women, whether we agree or
not, we are the molders of our families
and the family is a unit in a
state and the community. When
there is peace in the home-front,
when a man is at peace at home
when he goes to work, he will be at
peace. When there is any level of
provocation around the neigbourhood,
women are supposed to
peace agents
Why did you give grants to
NGOS
We gave the grants because it is
the proper things to do. It’s what
the government has decided to do
to encourage NGOs, because we
see ourselves as partners in
progress. We have thousands of
NGOs in the state. And there are
some you can see that they are really
helping people out of poverty
and needs. So, that stipend we gave
is just an encouragement for these
NGOs.
How are you integrating women
into THEME’s agenda of the
state government
Our main focus as a ministry is
to empower our women. We heard
all sort of stories about domestic
violence, we have stories of women
killing their husbands out of
frustration. Women are frustrated
because they do not have means
of livelihood. They depend solely
on their husbands. And the husbands
talk down on them, violates
their rights and there is nothing
they can do about it. They bottled
*Bolaji Dada
up so much. So, Sanwo-Olu government
has decided to empower
our women
Just recently, 4,880 women graduated
from our 18 skills acquisition
centres across the five divisions of
the state. Also, we do four weeks
short time skill acquisition training
for women from different spheres.
Last week, in Badagry division,
about 250 women graduated on
By Olasunkanmi Akoni
HE Lagos State Govern-
has appealed to res-
Tment
idents of the state particularly
the leisure and entertainment
business operators to be compliant
with environmental laws
guiding their operations during
the forth coming Valentine’s
Day celebration, urging them to
“spread love and not noise.”
The state government made
the appeal on Monday, in a joint
statement by the duo of General
Manager, GM, Lagos State
Environment Protection Agency,
LASEPA, Dr. Dolapo
Fasawe and her Safety Commission
counterpart, Mr. Lanre
Mojola.
They urged the public particularly,
the owners of event centers,
leisure, hospitality and
entertainment facilities who
plan to organise or host events
to consider the environment and
safety of the people by obtaining
necessary permits which allows
them to operate in a friendly and
safe environment.
Recalling that the Valentine’s
day is celebrated all over the
world as a day specifically set
aside for expressing love, the
government warned against
activities that could be harmful
or sow seed of hate rather than
love..
various skills. Also, we were in
Epe, Eredo to perform graduation
for such women as well. We don’t
just train them we also give them
start-up grants to start their own
business. And when they start
such businesses, we do what we
call entrepreneurship training for
some of them after graduating
they do not know how to run their
businesses. So, we give them the
“The message of St Valentine
is to spread love, friendship
with motive to promote harmony,
unity and peaceful relationship
through love, perseverance,
tolerance and selfless
actions. if our deed contradicts
the reason for the celebration
and impose unnecessary hardship
on our supposed friends
and allies, then we have failed
to observe the tenets of St
Valentine.
“We cannot separate noise
from celebrations but we can do
the needful by operating within
approved decibels thereby
reducing the negative effects
of noise pollution on everyone.
“As a matter of fact, noise and
mega cities are interrelated, for
our social life and economic
development, Leisure business
owners are advised not to
cut corners but to obtain permit
and operate within the prescribed
noise standard, failure
to abide attract serious consequences
“, Fasawe reiterated.
it has been observed that the
annual celebrations of Valentine’s
day had in recent time
been characterized by jamborees,
concerts and parties,
which if not regulated could
cause serious havoc on the
environment and innocent citizens
of the state.
Permits are no licence to make
training that will help them move
their business forward and in returns
help in boosting the state’s
economy.
Moreso, we have a governor who
has been very supportive. The
structure the state government is
running has made our jobs easier.
How many cases of domestic
violence have you treated in the
last one year
We have over 2,500 cases of domestic
violence, excluding unreported
received in the last one year
in Lagos. Most of them, as women,
they always come back to withdraw
most of the cases. But a few
of them we followed to the end.
There was a particular case of a
woman, who had gone to the court
and the court ruled that the man
should take custody of the two boys
while the woman takes custody of
the girl child. And the man later
requested for the little girl to come
and visit him and later refused to
let go the girl. The woman went
back to court and the court ordered
that she should go in company of
policemen from the nearest police
station to take over the girl. But,
surprisingly, the man had already
bought over the police in the area.
WAPA, as a ministry, stepped in to
take repossession of the girl.
Do you have cases of domestic
violence from men as well
Men are not bold enough to
come out for them to say they have
been violated by their wives. We
had one case recently.
Do you encourage men coming
out to report
Yes, we do. Because when you talk
about gender inequality, it goes
both ways, it just that more women
are the ones coming out.
Valentine’s Day: LASG urges residents
to spread love not noise
noise and there is always a
provision for revocation,
where the noise exceeds the
permissible standards, she
added.
On his own part, Mojola
expressed displeasure with
the nonchalant attitudes of
entertainment business operators
to the safety concern of
their clients especially during
celebrations and fiestas.
”Since safety doesn’t go on
holiday and accidents occur
unannounced , hence, the
need to ensure the safety of our
clients and customers while
within our premises and this
can only be achieved if we put
adequate safety measures in
place and ensure total compliance
with all safety regulations.
According to him , “Most
event centres have less capacity
for the multitude of guests
invited with little or no arrangement
for safety measures,
electrical infractions
especially with no provision for
escape routes for emergency
incident.
“ Obtaining safety permits
reduce risk of unforeseen accidents
or fatalities; Our officials
are well trained to plan
alongside with you to ensure
a hitch free event,” Mojola
added.