LAGOS STATE GOVERNMENT REFUNDS 145 FORMER SUBSCRIBERS OF EGAN HOUSING ESTATE
admin By Oyebola Owolabi
The United Nations (UN) Women has called on stakeholders in the private and public sector to promote inclusiveness by ensuring that women have access to financial resources.
This was the focus of the UN Women and Partners’ Open Day for Southwest, held in Lagos.
Country Representative to UN Women and ECOWAS, Ms Beatrice Eyong, lamented that only 10 per cent of women in Nigeria have access to financial resources for entrepreneurial development and access to public procurement.
She also said gender equality was central to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and Nigeria is been lagging behind by 40 per cent.
“We are championing moves to empower and better the lot of women because Nigeria will not attain the SDGs if women are behind. We are 60 per cent not being able to achieve the SDGs, though SDG five, which is gender equality, is central to achieving the SDGs.
“As long as we’re unable to accelerate gender equality we will not be able to accelerate the SDGs, and that’s why we’re here to recognise the fact that we cannot do this job alone. We recognise the fact that we cannot stay in Abuja and do the work, so we’re visiting the six geopolitical zones, this being the third zone that we are visiting,” she said.
Eyong also said the UN Women wanted to showcase its work through the Open Day, noting that women need access to information to enable them take decisions that will empower them.
“By empowering women, we empower our families, communities and nations. We must give women enough space to prosper. We know that with more precision in policy formulation and implementation, women can actualise their potentials,” she added.
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, represented by his Deputy Chief of Staff, Sam Egube, said the government has been intentional with giving women a voice and would continue to do so.
“We believe it is ladies first, supported by men. There is no way any woman would make progress if it is resisted by men, neither would the men make progress if it is resisted by women. There is nothing like being successful in a lonely place. So we must also acknowledge our male champions like our gender friendly and conscious governor. Lagos State will continue to support women and make room for more representation,” he said
Lagos State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation Mrs. Cecelia Bolaji-Dada said women voices needed to be heard in all decisions affecting them, while her Ogun State counterpart, Mrs. Hadijat Adeleye, admonished women to learn from one another and be supportive of their work for the desired equality.
