By: Chetachi Ifeme
As the world marks International Women’s Day, speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Ikuinyi-Owaji Ibani has called on women in the state to go beyond mere advocacy into active practice and aspire for leadership positions.
Ibani stated this while addressing members of the National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) Rivers State chapter who went on a peaceful walk to the assembly to request that the State House of Assembly conveys their message of dissatisfaction concerning the outcome of the debate on 35% inclusion of women in elective positions to the National Assembly.
The speaker while receiving the women stated that Rivers State House of Assembly is a gender sensitive assembly.
For him, “no progressive society can ignore the role of women, be it in economy, politics and the social sphere”.
Continuing he said, “as I speak, there is a bill that is pending in the Rivers State House of Assembly which a public hearing will be conducted any moment from now that deals with how women can also partake in the inheritance of the parents”.
Ibani also noted that there is no level of leadership that women cannot occupy, promising that, ” the bill, if passed will be part of the documents to be transmitted to the National legislature, as Rivers State House of Assembly we will stand with you.”
Making her presentation, the NAWOJ chairperson in Rivers State, Susan Serekara-Nwikhana said what happened at the National Assembly was a wake-up call to all women.
She urged women to get their Permanent Voters’ Cards and be ready to participate in politics, stressing that power is taken and not given.
“We are using this medium to call on women especially those who are financially okay to assist those with interest to pick up forms because its one thing to have the interest and another, financing it,” she said.
On his part, the state chairman of National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) Comrade Nwisabari Bani who also came out to lend his support for the women said the youths also suffers the same fate as them.
According to him, “we will declare total support to any machinery that is willing to give free or almost free forms to the women because most a times, the women do not have the financial capacity to contest with the men.”
