By Joyce Remi- Babayeju
Minister of the FCT, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has said that the FCTA would foster a close working relationship with the National Centre for Women Development, NCWD for the promotion of issues relating to the wellbeing of women in the FCT.
Bello said this on Tuesday during a courtesy visit by the Management of the Center to the FCTA.
This was contained in a press release signed by the Chief Press Secretary, Anthony Ogunleye, made available to Daybreak today.
I Malam Bello said that the FCT has always been in the forefront of the promotion of issues that relate to women especially the girl child and is usually one of the first to implement all gender protocols including those contained in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
The minister congratulated the new Director General, of the women council, Hon Asabe Baba for her pedigree in the fight for women, children’s rights and gender equality and advised the centre to take advantage of its proximity to the FCTA to work closely to promote women issues in the FCT that can be replicated in other parts of the country.
He said, “A lot of things are being done at the FCT level and it’s a stone throw distance between your office and our office. I think it’s good for you to do a lot here so that when delegations from other states of the Federation come, they will see practically what you are doing jointly in partnership with the FCT so that they can replicate them in their respective states.”
Speaking earlier the Director General of the Center Hon. (Dr) Asabe Vilita Bashir said that the purpose of the visit was to intimate the FCT Minister on the workings of the Center as an institution created for gender research, training and orientation.
According to her the Center is interested in addressing the strategic elements and critical factors that affect women generally and is working with the support of Nigeria’s Gender Agenda, the African Platform for Action and the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action to facilitate the formation of appropriate policies training and organisation programmes for Nigerian women.
9Present at the occasion were the Permanent Secretary, FCTA, Mr Olusade Adesola, the Chief of Staff to the Minister, Malam Bashir Mai-Bornu, the Director Department of Resettlement and Compensation Mrs. Perpetua Ohanma and the Acting Director Department of Reform Coordination and Service Improvement, Dr Jummai Ahmadu amongst other staff of the FCTA.
