The federal government will need to revisit
the Nigerian Gender Policy which was formulated in 2006 if it must address gender inequality in the country, a Professor of Political Science, African and Women Studies, Mojubaolu Okome has said.
Prof Okome, who lectures at the Brooklyn College, City University of New York made the call while delivering a paper at the 1st International Conference organized by the Centre for Human Rights and Gender Education of the Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED).
Speaking on ‘Emerging Issues on Human Rights and Gender Education for Sustainable Development’, Prof Okome said one of the pillars of the Gender Policy made provision for gender education and capacity building, but stressed that this purpose has not been achieved because the policy was never implemented.
According to her “the gender policy has lapsed because it ought to have been reviewed four years after which never happened and wasn’t implemented.”
Okome maintained that it might be difficult for Nigeria to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 if there is no conscious effort to achieve gender parity in education.
Linking gender education and sustainable development, she also noted that the “right to equitable and equal access to education for women and men would contribute to peace, economic development, well-being and peace in the world.
“Education should be a key to economic growth, peace and stability and any country that wants to progress must achieve gender parity in education and work places”, she added.
Earlier, while giving her opening remarks, Chairperson of the occasion, Ambassador Folake Marcus-Bello, had urged women to rise up and take their position adding that they should contribute their quota towards the development of the nation in their little but significant ways.
