Governors’ wives urge NASS to reconsider rejected gender bills
The Nigeria Governors’ Wives Forum has appealed to the National Assembly to reconsider its stand on the rejected gender-based bills, by re-presenting them for adoption.
Members of the forum said this when they met with female senators led by the Chairperson of Senate Committee on Women Affairs, Sen. Betty Apiafi at the national assembly complex on Tuesday in Abuja.
The forum’s chairperson, Mrs Bisi Fayemi and wife of the Governor of Ekiti State, said that by rejecting the gender bills, the National Assembly has rejected the progress of Nigerian women.
“This country belongs to all of us. 50 per cent of the country’s population is women. No women, no nation.
“We therefore demand that our rights be recognised; our rights as full citizen, to take leadership positions, not to die in child birth, not to live in poverty, not to suffer from gender-based violence.
“We want our leaders in this building whom we campaigned and voted for, to recognise that Nigerian women’s lives matter. Anything less than that is totally unacceptable,”Fayemi said.
Responding, Sen. Akon Eyakenyi (PDP-Akwa-Ibom) said that the National Assembly can work towards re-presenting the bills for consideration.
“The bills passed can be rescinded. We have appealed to the leadership of the national that the bills should come again and voting can be done again,” she said.(NAN)
