The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, has requested a closer working relationship between the FCT Administration and the National Center for Women Development (NCWD) to address issues affecting women’s well-being in the nation’s capital.
During a courtesy visit by the Center’s management to FCTA, the Minister made this call.
According to Malam Bello, the FCT has always been at the forefront of issues affecting women, particularly the girl child, and is usually one of the first to implement gender protocols, such as those found in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Bello also reminded his guests that the National Center for Women Development was located in close proximity to the FCTA and advised its management to use this advantage to work very closely with the FCTA to promote women issues in the FCT that can be replicated in other parts of the country.
He said, “A lot of things are being done at the FCT level and it’s a stone throw distance between your office and our office. I think it’s good for you to do a lot here so that when delegations from other states of the Federation come, they will see practically what you are doing jointly in partnership with the FCT so that they can replicate them in their respective states”
The FCT Minister also congratulated the Director General of the NCWD on her appointment saying that her antecedents in the fight for women and children’s rights and gender equality were well documented and wished her a successful tenure.
Earlier the Director General of the Center Hon. (Dr) Asabe Vilita Bashir said that the purpose of the visit was to intimate the FCT Minister on the workings of the Center as an institution created for gender research, training and orientation.
The Center, she hinted is interested in addressing the strategic elements and critical factors that affect women generally and is working with the support of Nigeria’s Gender Agenda, the African Platform for Action and the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action to facilitate the formation of appropriate policies training and organisation programmes for Nigerian women.
Present at the courtesy visit were the Permanent Secretary, FCTA, Mr Olusade Adesola, the Chief of Staff to the Minister, Malam Bashir Mai-Bornu, the Director Department of Resettlement and Compensation Mrs. Perpetua Ohanma and the Acting Director Department of Reform Coordination and Service Improvement, Dr Jummai Ahmadu amongst other staff of the FCTA.
