By Abimbola Abatta
The inability to effectively address the security issues bedeviling Nigeria has been ascribed to the neglect of women in leadership and policy making.
Minister for Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, disclosed the above statement earlier in the week, adding that women possessed the necessary capabilities to end the ongoing insecurity menace ravaging the nation.
Tallen spoke during a stakeholders’ meeting on the network of policymakers to support reconciliation, peace and security in Abuja.
According to the Women Affairs Minister, “Women also play a critical role in the home, in society and even in conflict resolution.
“Any successful mediation that will be successful and bring about meaningful peace, women must be involved, and when they are involved we always get better results.
“Ignoring who may participate on the decision table is what is causing the problem we are facing.”
She averred that as a nation, “We must learn to admit and to address some of these security problems by looking inwardly and changing our strategy.”
Tallen added that the problem of Nigeria is the absence of love.
“We should learn God’s love because God loves this nation beyond one’s imagination.
“If not for God, we wouldn’t be sitting here today; God has shown us so much love, all we need to do is reciprocate and love one another and be sincere.
“If we are sincere to ourselves, then by now we should have found a solution to our security problem; but there is no sincerity and we must go back to the drawing board,” she said.
On the Federal Government’s role in tackling insecurity, Tallen explained that President Muhammad Buhari is not a magician and he alone cannot protect Nigeria.
“We are all involved in protecting Nigeria but we keep going around and around without telling ourselves the truth,” he noted.
While commending women affairs minister, the Minister of Foreign Affair, Mr Geoffrey Oyeama, said that a simple solution to the challenges faced in Nigeria regarding conflict was to put more women in leadership positions.
“If we do this we will find out that we have a solution to a lot of these problems of insecurity.
“We’ve been trying with the men for a long time, why don’t we try something different.
“We all know that women are elements and source of love; it’s in their DNA.
“I believe that women can play key roles when it comes to curbing insecurity in Nigeria,” Onyeama added.