NGO calls for urgent actions against mental illness among women
By Taofeek LAWAL, Abuja
As this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD), is marked, a non-governmental Organisation (NGO), Mairo Maryam Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (MMAWT) Legacy Initiative has called for urgent and deliberate actions that will curb mental illness and other issues affecting women and girls.
According to MMAWT, it has become imperative for stakeholders to pay more attention to the surge in cases that involved mental illness, depression and trauma among women, girls and other victims of these vices.
The founder of the NGO, Hajiya Mairo Maryam Tambuwal, submitted that paying attention to mental illness, depression and different forms of trauma is a crucial part of the victims’ recovery from the prevailing challenges facing Nigerian women and the girl child.
In her address marking the IWD, Maryam Tambuwal attributed the development of the vices to the harsh realities that the global pandemic and current spate of insecurity meted out on women and girls in Nigerian communities especially in northern Nigeria.
Tambuwal, who is the wife of Sokoto State Governor said as part of her campaign to mark the International Women’s Day and women’s historic month of March, her group has launched a series of advocacy efforts to stakeholders to appeal for support to women, girls and children.
She however acknowledged the United Nations theme for 2021, ‘Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in a Post-Covid World,’ saying that the global campaign theme #ChooseToChallenge are all clear indications that everyone have a role to play in creating a better environment for women and girls to thrive and live in a conducive and peaceful environment.
She said, “While the rest of the world is slowly recovering from the devastation of the pandemic, we in the North are grappling with a lot of vices, ranging from incessant kidnap of school children, with girls often being the target to communities losing their source of livelihoods because they do not have access to their farms. International Women’s Day presents another opportunity to us as a people to take actions that will finally put an end to the pains and suffering women and girls go through.”
She added, “Mental health is an important aspect of our socio-economic lives. So paying attention to mental illness, depression and different forms of trauma is a crucial part of our recovery. The pain of a woman is the tears and agony of a nation, all our efforts at development must continue to have the welfare of women and girls at the center. We must never allow ethnic or religious sentiments distract us from facing the issues that affect us all.”
