By Ahmad Umar :
Nigerian government says the Peace Architecture report, short films and documentary on women, peace and security is a powerful means of engaging women to bring about peace and security in Northern Nigeria.
Minister for Women Affairs and Social Development, Aisha Jummai Alhassan stated this in Gombe, northeast of the country at the formal launch of the state peace architecture report as well as premièred short films and documentary on women, peace and security.
The programme is in line with the United Nations (UN) Women’s intervention aimed at promoting women’s engagement in peace and security in the northern part of the country.
Aisha Jummai Alhassan said the launch of the document was expected to explore innovative strategies that would sensitise and increase public awareness on various contextual issues related to women, peace and security.
Represented at the event by an official of the ministry, Iliyasu Omar Zubair, the Minister stated that the video documentary and short films, would serve as tools for sensitization, advocacy and campaign on gender and development.
According to her, “It will serve as a good medium for enlightenment of Gombe people in the context of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 and the newly revised National Action Plan launched last year”.
She stated further that as part of the activities of the ministry to enhance women participation in peace building efforts, plans are underway to organize an inter-sectoral meeting of the federal MDAs on April 30, in collaboration with the UN Women and British High Commission.
In her goodwill message, Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed commended the people for ensuring peace in the State but however noted that the price of insecurity has bitter expression on the faces of women who lost their children, husbands and breadwinners as a result of conflicts.
She lauded the launch of the peace roadmap stressing that without the involvement of women, peaceful coexistence and security could hardly be achieved.
She said, in line with UN Resolution 1325, her ministry, has ensured that women are mainstreamed into the reconstruction, resettlement and reintegration in the North East, embarked by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
She said, “Women are the first to notice early warning signs of war and insecurity but when we leave them out of the discourse, the end result is that we fail to achieve sustainable peace”.
Programme Manager, UN Women in Nigeria, Njeri Karuru, said the peace and security assessment report, short films and documentary, “are outputs of European Union funded programme tagged, “Promoting Women’s Engagement in Peace and Security in Northern Nigeria.”
Karuru added that the goal of the programme was to strengthen the engagement of women in peace and security at all levels of decision making.
“Specifically, it seeks to strengthen women’s role in conflict prevention, peacemaking and peace building,” she said.
She called for the urgent passage of the gender and equal opportunity bill which is before the Gombe State House Assembly before the commencement of political activities leading to the 2019 general elections.
The Peace Architecture Assessment Report was formally launched by Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, who was represented by the Head of Civil Service of the State, Adamu Abubakar.
https://www.africaprimenews.com/2018/04/18/news/dankwambo-decries-rising-cases-of-rape-in-gombe/
