Community and religious leaders across the state have solicited for more investments in women and the Girl child for a progressive and more prosperous society.
This is even coming as the Chairman, Southern Youth Wing of CAN, Barr. Oluchukwu Green Nnabugwu has appealed to government at all levels to give women more opportunities in elective positions.
Speaking during a one-day workshop organized by Community Live Project to mark this year’s International Women’s Day in Owerri, Barr. Nnabugwu reiterated that training of male children had continued to receive priority to the detriment of their female counterparts. He added that the workshop is to sensitize parents to pay more attention to the training and empowerment of the girl child to enable them realize their full potentials, hence the theme of the workshop, “Male Community Leaders Dialogue on Investing in women and Girl child”.
Nnabugwu, a leader of the non governmental organization, disclosed that the Community Live Project is also in partnership with Imo Christian Youth Peace Initiative, (ICYPI) to celebrate women all over the world as well as educate community/ religious leaders to invest in women in order to accelerate progress.
” It is disheartening that our culture, backgrounds, and religion have reduced women to the second class level and this over time has affected them physiologically. This workshop which is solely for men is to engage and train community/ church leaders, who we believe have more impact at the grassroots to go back to their various communities and reorient the people on the need to invest in women”.
“Investing in the girl child can start from their parents. There should be equal investment on both the girl child and that of the boy. Then at the community level, most times when people want to give scholarships, you see them concentrating on the male child excluding the women, with the hope that they will make name and build back to the community.There should be equal opportunities for both genders. At the local, state and federal levels , there should also play a role to make women part of their priorities and policies. Women has been relegated at the background for so long according to the United Nations, it will take 131 years for women to come up exactly to the level of men. Therefore, Government should invest in women more than men . Women should be considered first for scholarships and empowerments as well as elective positions”.
” We must remember that some of the systems we are trying to change by law came from communities, cultures and religious backgrounds that inherently women cannot come to a certain level.
The Community Live Project and it’s stakeholders are advocating for the full implementations of the laws that have been enacted for women. We therefore advise the female genders to see themselves as special beings. Tell yourselves that you can do what men can do, tell yourselves that you strong and endowed. Believe in yourselves and have this mentality of being superior at every level”, he submitted.
In the same vain, the Convener of the organization, Eze Chinedu, disclosed that Community Live Project has being in existence for the past 30 years.
“This year, we have decided to engage the men to look at those issues why we need to invest in women, the challenges faced in the cause of trying to invest in women and how we can overcome it. We should remember that when you invest in women, you are investing in the family and society at large because when a woman is empowered, she has empowered the whole world. Also remember that Women are more closer to their children and family, hence we should stop the mentality that if you train a woman, you are wasting your resources. The aim of this workshop is to change that narrative and invest in the girl child for the empowerment of the entire world”.
One of the participants of the workshop and Pastor of Testimony House International, Ugo Glory, added that the workshop is coming at the right time because people are not too interested in training a girl child forgetting that what you invest in the girl child is what you will see in the society.
“Women reproduce what you give them, If you invest in their education, they must have that urge to raise children with sound academy background. But if you don’t care about that, they will also reproduce their kind, as most of these kidnappers, herdsmen, and others did not have good training from their Mothers. The international society is hoping we invest in a girl child for a better society”.
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