Kaduna Assembly to support domestication of gender policy – Lawmaker

From Femi Oyelola,. Kaduna

The Chairman, House Committee on Information and Home Affairs, Kaduna State House of Assembly, Shehu Shadalafiya has said, the House is willing at all times to effect changes that would bring about development, security and equal opportunity for people in the state if such is communicated to the assembly.
He stated this. during a two days meeting facilitated by Development in Practice Gender Entrepreneurship Initiative (DIP-GEI) under Voice to the People (V2P) project in Kaduna which was supported by Christian Aid.
The lawmaker said it is important that Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission (KAD-SIECOM) to domesticate gender policy. This according to him will expose the people and allow more women to participate in politics.
“Political parties too need to do the needful by creating the opportunity, meeting their affirmation to give women the opportunity in intra-party politics even in their excos.
“This workshop is a very good step Kaduna State will benefit from and we are happy to have taking part in it.
“We look at issue that need to come to the assembly but civil society, KAD-SIECOM itself, women groups, political parties can initiate move for amendment, changes or creation of new law.
“We in Kaduna Assembly are willing at every time to do things that will bring about development, security and equal opportunity for our people”, he stressed.
The participants at the meeting has earlier called on KAD-SIECOM to domesticate gender policy to encourage women participation in politics.
The participants, which has representatives of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), KAD-SIECOM, Conference of Political Parties, Women Aspirant and Mentorship Forum and non-governmental organisations in attendance hoped that, if affirmative gender policy of INEC could be stepped down in Kaduna, it would afford women, many of whom are not financially endowed participate in elections.
Speaking earlier the Programme Manager, DIP-GEI, Stella Samuel Udobong said, the meeting was organized as part of V2P project by DFID and implemented by DIP-GEI with 45 participants drawn from 10 political parties across the State.
V2P is a community-based project that empowers natives on how to prioritise their needs and make same known to their policymakers through collective voice for desire changes to happen in their communities, the idea is simply to give voice to the communities to make collective demands.
According to her, INEC, NGOs, and inter party women network were brought together to strategize on the way forward for womens’ inclusion in the 2019 general elections.