Coalition calls for resubmission of rejected gender-related bills to the Diet
A coalition of gender advocates has renewed its call to resubmit the five gender-related bills that were rejected in the 9th National Diet. The group, under the umbrella of #constitutionwomenwant and led by Women’s Defenders Research and Documentation (WARDC) with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Palladium, launched a series of constitutional hashtags in Abuja over the weekend. Ta. Online and offline activities, including social media campaigns.
Dr. Abiola Akiyode Afolabi, Founder and Executive Director of WARDC, said: That’s why WARDC is working to galvanize public support at the national and state level to reintroduce and pass five gender-related bills.
“The movement is growing, people are getting more involved, and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, Benjamin Carew, is speaking out on gender-related legislation, so we look forward to maintaining that relationship and persuading MPs. ing.
“This event has two mandates, one is to run the hashtag campaign #afgirmativeaction and #reconsider5genderbills, and the other is to restart the signature campaign on the gender bill that was launched earlier. Ensure that women’s rights are protected.”Women and vulnerable people. ”
He added that the campaign is trying to collect 1 million signatures nationwide calling for the bill to be reconsidered. “While not every issue or debate on the floor of the House succeeds the first time, the women’s efforts in the 9th Congress were, in my own analysis, very successful,” Cull said. said. That has produced a better strategy, which women are adopting in the current consideration of the 10th Congress. ”
On behalf of the Special Assistant on Strategic and Program Development, Mr. Katu Simone, the representative of Abia State submitted that: Quite a few people, even some members of Congress, didn’t understand until it was brought to the floor of the House. So I think if there’s something better that should be done now, it would be to educate not only the legislature but also the people so that they understand the value of these bills. ”
Highlighting the efforts of the Occupy Parliament campaign against the proposed bill, the former National Director of ActionAid Nigeria, Mr. Ene Obi, said the media played an important role in promoting the campaign.
Here are her words: “The media was with us all four weeks of the occupation, they were there, they gave us all the attention. It was a battle.
“One of the things we noticed is that in many of our conversations with members of Congress, they asked us what we were doing before. We did it, but it wasn’t enough to get the bill introduced. We’re going to introduce another bill, but we need to do more. We need to do a lot of awareness.”
Source: guardian.ng