Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, has said President Bola Tinubu will, on March 7, launch an e-market portal, transparency and integrity brigade for women.
She said the portal will link manufacturers, buyers, sellers and others in the marketing chain to encourage entrepreneurship, skill acquisition and self-reliance, while the brigade will monitor and ensure the safety of women and children against abuse.
The minister spoke at a conference for commissioners of ministries of Women Affairs organised by Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC), supported by the European Union and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA).
She said the Federal Government will bring on board the brigade of which the commissioners are part.
With the brigade, she said the government would fish out things belonging to women and children, who are 70 per cent of Nigeria’s population.
She noted youths, women, and the vulnerable will be involved in government programmes.
The minister, who lamented the low budgetary allocation to the ministry, assured that the administration won’t take issues concerning women for granted.
She further called on Nigerians to volunteer and join the integrity brigade.
“These are some of the ways we want to save Nigeria.
“Nobody will leave a stone unturned. If you tamper with any woman or child, you will get the result. We are equally telling the women not to look for trouble because if they look for trouble they won’t get support”, she said.
Head of Programme, International IDEA, Nigeria, Danladi Plang, called on states to implement the Child’s Rights Act (CRA) and the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act (VAPP) to curb any form of violence, especially gender-based violence.
He said the event was aimed at drawing attention to some of the key challenges that women, children and persons with disabilities in Nigeria face when they want to access the justice system.
He said: “Whether is our belief, legal system, or whether it’s a woman that has been sexually assaulted, or whether it’s persons with disabilities, they all have challenges in terms of accessing justice.
“So the first thing is to draw attention to some of the challenges they face. And then the second one is also to present to the vulnerable people some of the opportunities that are available to them”.