By Fortune Abang
The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, says the ministry is ready to carry out the maiden 10 million women march centred on empowering women in Nigeria.
Sulaiman-Ibrahim, who spoke at a news conference in Abuja, announced that the march would be held on May 5 to empower women at the ward level nationwide.
According to her, women in the country need to speak with one voice and engage in one movement, to achieve set targets.
“It took President Bola Tinubu’s effort to make us recognise the importance of Nigerian women coming together.
“It is key to show gratitude to him; to come together as one and continue to think together as one; move as one, plan as one and dream as one.
“We have our individual aspirations but with this movement, we can go to achieve goals individually and collectively. It is a movement we hope to sustain starting from the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja on May 5.
“Every state will bring a delegation from across every ward level; already we have 3,000 volunteers subscribed and still counting, particularly those who want to support the organisation of the programme.
“All women’s groups are welcome to attend the programme which will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the stadium.’’
She described the rally as an empowerment drive to ensure the cluster of 10,000 women spread into 59 groups of 24 was empowered.
The minister said that each ward would receive empowerment of not less than N10 million with 10 million voices in each ward.
“It is not for us to do it; it is for every state to do; it is a collective ownership that we must have for this movement.
“We want N10 million to be injected into women development programme initiatives in each ward and watch what will happen in Nigeria,” she said.
Hajia Zainab Abubakar Ibrahim, Deputy National Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), who is the Organising Committee Chairman of the rally, said necessary measures had been put in place to ensure a hitch-free rally.
“This is not just a rally; it is a movement. It does not mean that we are converging 10 million women at the stadium.
“The capacity of the stadium is 60, 000 and we will not exceed that.
“All hands have been on deck; we have also put in place every strategy to ensure that everyone is safe, and that everything starts and finishes well,” she said.
On her part, Dr Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission and sub-committee chairman on media/publicity, said the rally was not solely for All Progressive Congress (APC) women, but a great occasion for all women to be empowered.
She also urged Nigerian women stakeholders to work closely with the organising committee to build a formidable voice and unite other women in advancing growth of Nigerian women.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Josephine Obute and Chijioke Okoronkwo
