By: Sunny Anderson Osiebe.
Senate
President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki has appealed to women
organizations and other stakeholders to engage in more consultations in
order to address controversial issues in the Gender and Equal
Opportunity Bill so as to facilitate its easy passage.
Saraki made the
appeal on Tuesday when members of the Association of Nigerian Women
Business Network (ANWBN) and Women in Management Business and Public
Service (WIMBIZ) that jointly paid him a courtesy
in his office in Abuja.
Saraki, however,
acknowledged the controversies generated by certain aspects of the bill
and challenged women organizations to negotiate with other
stakeholders to find a common ground on such issues.
"Yes, the bill
has passed through the second reading but there is still lot to be done
before it is finally passed. It is only passed in principle, but the
contentious details can be resolved at
the subsequent stages."
The Gender and
Equal Opportunities bill, which had already scaled through the second
reading on the floor of the Senate was referred to Senate committee on
Women Affairs for further legislative scrutiny.
Saraki said
certain issues in the bill, such as provision for women empowerment,
women support programmes and funding for women were major highlights of
the bill that received general consensus by
all the stakeholders.
According to
him: "We in the Senate are mindful of the immense contributions of our
women in building a stable economy. To come out of this present
recession, we have to be on the same page. We
need to educate ourselves on the details of this Gender and Equal
Opportunity Bill. A lot of job are required. We have to negotiate.We
have to focus more on areas that are important.
"I can assure
you, I am on your side, but we all have to engage in confidence
building. This is a bill that will improve better access for credit for
our women to do business with ease. Our
aim is to improve the business environment for women entrepreneurs across the land", he said.
In their
separate remarks, National Coordinators of the Women Groups, Mrs Aisha
Hammed and Ms Nkiru Okpala commended Saraki and the entire Senate for
the work done so far on the gender bill and
the passage of the agricultural credit scheme bill.
The two bills,
according to them marked the commitment of the Senate to empower women,
and listed lack of adequate infrastracture, natural disasters, lack of
government patronage for made in Nigeria
goods and lack of access to finance and financial incentives as some of
the challenges facing women in business in Nigeria.
To confront the
challenges, they said, a National Business Agenda for Nigerian Women in
Business had been developed. They also extended an invitation to the
Senate President to deliver a keynote address
at the official launch of the document slated for November
23, 2016.
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