I had tough time appointing female as commissioner, says Bauchi governor

Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed has said that he found it difficult persuading stakeholders from the 20 councils of the state to allow women in his cabinet members.
Mohammed, while addressing a group of women in Government House over the weekend, said it took him a lot of effort before only Itas/Gadau Council allowed a woman to be appointed Commissioner for Women Affairs.

The women had taken the campaign against rape and child molestation to the first family. Mohammed said there was low participation of women in the state’s politics. “We have one female commissioner in the cabinet. We can only bring in special advisers. This has to do with some traditional and cultural inhibitions. Some councils wouldn’t want a woman to represent them,” Mohammed noted.

He lamented that the Child Right Act was being attached to culture and traditional inhibitions, but informed that his administration would set up a committee comprising religious and traditional leaders to look at the issue of child marriage.

“I feel ashamed anytime Bauchi is mentioned among the states that are yet to domesticate the Child Rights Act as a senator, but I know that there are areas that are repugnant to our religious or traditional practice. We must do it.”