Sanwo-Olu urges women to push for gender equality

Oluwatosin Omojuyigbe

the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Tuesday charged the women in the state to amplify their voices in the quest for gender equality.

Sanwo-Olu, who noted that any society that failed to support women stood to lose its essence, said his administration would continue to fight segregation policies and actions that denied women the opportunity to actualise their leadership potential.

The governor stated this at the commemoration of the 2021 International Women’s Day organised by the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation with the theme, ‘Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in a COVID-19 World.’

He said, “To further demonstrate our commitment to the cause of women in Lagos State, this administration will ensure that we have zero tolerance for all forms of domestic violence against women, particularly rape, sexual, domestic assault and we will continue to ensure that our teams that are working with the citizens’ mediation centre, WAPA office, the office of the public defender to ensure that we name and shame anybody that is caught in this act and we will stop at nothing to bring justice and ensure that justice is served at any of those events.

“I want to lend my voice to this year’s slogan of the International Women’s Day. Therefore, I challenge you to all continue to amplify your voices in your quest for gender equality and the desire to occupy more space in leadership at the very top.”

Also at the event, Sanwo-Olu’s wife, Ibijoke, said, “My dear women, I urge every one of us to take our individual and collective destinies in our hands. Let us not stop at the talk; it is time to walk the walk. It is time to think big and aim high.”

The Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Bolaji Dada, in her welcome address urged the women not to relent in their strive to reach the pinnacle of their endeavours, noting that there were many powerful positions to be filled by women to change the socio-economic landscape in the country.

The Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Ibukun Awosika, who spoke on ‘Leadership in Extraordinary Times,’’ said the role for which God created women in making society to develop could never be negotiated.

Awosika noted that women needed to deploy “extraordinary actions every extraordinary time to stabilise situations.”

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