By Melvin
TejanMansaray, Abuja-Nigeria, Wednesday 8th December 2021
Members of the newly elected Bureau and ordinary members of
the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Female Parliamentary Association
(ECOFEPA)on Wednesday 8th December 2021 paid a courtesy call on Dr. Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan President of the Senate,
Chairman National Assembly Federal Republic of Nigeria, and Senators and the
Right Honorable Ahmed Idriss Deputy Speaker House of Representatives of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Presenting the delegation, Senator. Biodun Christine Olujimi
(Nigeria) 1st Vice President-elect ECOFEPA and facilitator of the visit said
that ECOFEPA went to pay a courtesy call on the Senate President despite the
impromptu nature noting that they held their election the day before and the
old Executive stepped out and a new one is to take over.
“We thought it fit to come to the National Assembly to see
the owners of this country and especially our Parliament and of course, the
Presiding Officer in the person of the Senate President, Sen. Dr. Lawan and
that is why we are here today," She explained, adding that currently, only
two women are representing Nigeria in the ECOWAS Parliament.
Hon. MemunatuIbrahima (Togo), Third Deputy Speaker ECOWAS
Parliament in her presentation to the Senate President and Senators said that
they were happy to inform the President and Senators that they are just coming
out of a successful ECOFEPA election and that she was happy to note that the
meeting was the first high-level engagement they have had while appreciating
the Senate President and Senators for agreeing to see them.
Hon. Ibrahima said although the First elected President was
unavoidably absent, the Bureau is excited and looking forward to the prospects
of the new leadership that has been elected noting that it is of great
advantage to the Bureau to have a Nigerian in the person of Sen. Olujimi. She
said this means that Nigeria with its size, population, and importance in the
sub-region and the continent is of great moment.
“With Sen. Olujimi at the helm of affairs as 1st Vice
President-elect in her new position, we believe that it is going to take us to
new heights.”
“Our first project is an ambitious one - we look forward to
hosting a grand conference of female Parliamentarians within ECOWAS to see how
we can explore ways for the development of women and corporation within Parliamentarians,”
She explained, adding that, “certainly our next project will be to try to
monitor and support female representation within Parliaments within the ECOWAS
sub-region and above all for Nigeria, we
are looking forward to seeing how we can
encourage the participation and inclusion of more female parliamentarians within the National Assembly.”
Hon. Ibrahima noted that:
“Thirdly, we will also like to embark on projects that protect the girl
child to be able to monitor them and track their progress to adulthood. With
that, we look to the Senate for support on all these three projects which we
look forward to leaning on the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to be
heavily involved in these projects.”
She concluded by registering that the ECOWAS Commission has
budgeted for all these projects but noted that they look towards the Senate
President to see how they can be able to render more support towards the
realization of these projects and once more she thanked the Senate President
for receiving the ECOFEPA on a very short notice whilst anticipated a cordial
working relationship in the pursuit of their aims and objectives.
In response, the Senate President Sen. Dr. Lawan on behalf
of all the Senators welcomed the ECOFEPA delegation to the Senate of the
National Assembly expressing that he was very pleased to have them.
Sen. Dr. Lawan said:
“I am very happy to receive you with my colleagues. I should
congratulate you for the elections,” adding that he knows that Sen. Olujimi was
also elected among the member of the new Bureau.
The Senate President said: “This is a very good development
for Nigeria and I want to congratulate the
ECOWAS Parliamentarians for electing Sen. Olujimi, one of our very
distinguished Senators. We are still
trying to see if she remains fully and legislative because she moves in and
then out. She was here in the House of
Representatives in 2003, then later became a Deputy Governor and now, she wants
the whole and real thing but, whatever it would be, we pray for her and wish
her the best of luck in whatever endeavor she chooses. But one clear thing is
that the Nigeria Legislature needs people like her because she has the
experience and given the kind of numbers, a very discourage a number of women
in the Nigerian Parliament or National
Assembly, I believe we have to have more and more like her.”
He recalled serving also with Hon. Linda in the House of
Representatives in 1999 adding that she also has a wealth
of experience which should be harnessed to have more women in the Nigeria National
Assembly
Sen. Dr. Lawan said that at the moment, Nigeria is reviewing
its 1999 national constitution, noting that, “ I know that there are some
efforts that provide for more women’s representation. We hope that by the time
the constitutional review is concluded,
we would have provided a platform for more women to be at the National
Assembly.”
“Honestly, I believe that Nigeria and most of our countries
women are not participating fully. This is showing weakness in what we do
because you can not have a population of more than fifty percent and yet women
representation is less than ten percent. It means there is going to be a
disconnect even for our national development. We need more women’s
participation not only in politics but even in the economy and other spheres of
life and that will require that we work hard on our constitutional review and
other legislations that will give women the affirmative action that they
require,” the Senate President said.
He also explained that girl child education is the key to
women’ s empowerment in the economy, politics, and every other aspect, adding that, “ because that gives them a head
start, once they are educated it makes it easier for them to enter politics and
succeed in it.”
He however called on the ECOWAS Parliament to come up with
an agenda that allows people to be elected so that they will have a better
standing so that resolutions on women’s s empowerment can be domesticated. He
said the ECOWAS sub-region is challenged by insecurity for which he called for
close collaboration among countries,
underscoring that apart from language
differences, “ we are the same people.”
“If we don’t solve our problems as Africans no one is going
to solve our problems, once this is done outsiders know that they will lose our
market among other things.”
The Senate President
ended by registering that, “ finally, I hope and I pray that you will
have a wonderful stay in Abuja and I
wish you a successful Session and at the
end of the day, I hope the resolutions will address the challenges facing women in our national
and sub-regional parliaments.”
In a similar but separate engagement, the ECEFEPA delegation
also paid a courtesy call on the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives
who assured the Bureau and members of his unflinching support, stating that, “
I happy to host you. In solidarity, I want to appreciate you for electing our
Sister. I also want to thank you for your cooperation in the Community
Parliament. I urge you to work together the achieve your goals. I want to once
more thank you and wish you a very good tenure in your drive to make life
better for women nationally and internationally. I appreciate every moment I am sharing with
you as the Women of the ECOWAS Parliament.”
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