State Commissioners for Women Affairs met yesterday, in Abuja, to formulate a strategy for downscaling the National Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) policy to the grassroots.
 
At a two-day meeting organised by the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), with the support of the development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC), Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy, called on governments at federal and sub-national levels to ensure domestication of the policy.
 
She said investment in economic growth and development of women would ensure access to finance and equipment are provided at community, local, and zonal levels to minimise poverty and reduce the suffering of women in Nigeria.
 
“We must be practical in our approach and give Nigerian women the opportunities they need to grow. Opportunities such as machines and equipment, processing opportunities, finances, and market access,” she said.
 
The minister disclosed that 15 states had so far been provided adequate facilities for producing and processing rice and other agricultural output as part of the Federal Government’s efforts to boost food security and reduce poverty amongst women.

Executive Director, dRPC Nigeria, Dr Judith-Ann-Walker, said the meeting on the domestication of the WEE policy was a continuation and a culmination of the dRPC’s work with NIPSS on WEE. 

 
She said: “This new collaboration with NIPSS and the Federal Ministry of Women’s Affairs will take place over the next four years and will focus on implementing the WEE policy at the sub-national level.”
 
She revealed that the domestication process will start with the first cluster of eight states, and in the coming months, eight more states would be selected to support as they domesticate the National WEE policy.
 
Director-General, NIPSS, Prof Ayo Omotayo, disclosed that the National WEE policy document could completely transform women’s economic status and allow their active participation in the policy process and productive sectors of Nigeria. 
 
‘’This, therefore, presupposes the need for a collective effort of all critical stakeholders to ensure that the goals of WEE are attained,” he said.
Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Dr Ini Idiakpan, pointed out that women’s empowerment is the major factor militating against gender parity and inclusion globally.
 
Idiakpan, who is also the Dean of Commissioners of Women Affairs in Nigeria, said: “If women must contribute to national development and get the parity and inclusion we are talking about, then we must address the poverty of the women.”