The Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) on Tuesday congratulated Nigerian women on the occasion of the 2022 International Women’s Day (IWD).
The congratulatory message is in a statement signed by NAWOJ National President, Mrs Ladi Bala in Abuja.
IWD is a day set aside by the UN to bring issues that affect women and girls to the front burner and raise global consciousness on such matters so as to proffer possible solutions to them.
The day is also an opportunity for women and girls to raise their voices and remind the world about their contributions and the different roles they play toward nation building, and ask that they should be seen as partners in progress and should be carried along.
The 2022 IWD which has “Break the Bias” as its theme, is, therefore, aimed at shedding the suffocating stereotypes, stigmas and discrimination that has kept women and girls worldwide from succeeding and realising their full potential.
Bala stated that the 2022 IWD would have been one of the best to be celebrated in Nigeria if the National Assembly (NASS) had passed the gender bills.
She said history would have been made by the Ninth Assembly as the legislature that allowed the true definition of democracy to take it roots in Nigeria.
She noted that “the sad and unacceptable rejection of the five gender bills that speak to the issues against women, especially discrimination and exclusion from involvement in governance and contribution to nation building, is not only shameful.
“It is retrogressive, a huge tragedy in the development space of Nigeria and the eye of the global community. No nation that excludes more than 50 per cent of a segment of its demography can develop as expected.
“It is, therefore, pertinent to appeal to members of the federal legislature to as a matter of urgency, necessity and in the interest of the spirit and letters of democracy to discard their earlier posture.
“The legislature needs to allow the gender bills to be re-represented and passed into law.
“NAWOJ leadership also calls on Nigerian women to rise and demand from their representatives the fulfillment of the social contract of effective representation they signed,” Bala stressed.
She also said it was instructive to note that the fight toward ensuring that Nigeria corrected the wrongs required the support of patriotic men who believed in a better Nigeria.
According to her, until the gender bills are reconsidered and passed into law, Nigeria cannot be seen or considered to be a full democratic nation, and that the time to stop gender discrimination and biases is now.
She said that attaining gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow would remain an Illusion in Nigeria except a pragmatic approach on gender balancing was adopted and respected by all.