On this special day, I salute Nigerian women as we join the rest of the world to celebrate this year International Women’s Day.
In our country, women have always played an important role in our social, political, and economic evolution. The story of many of our far gone heroines like Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Margaret Ekpo, Hajia Gambo Sawaba and hundreds of Aba Women who fought for economic rights of women and contributed to the liberation struggle against colonialism will continue to inspire generations to come.
The theme of this year’s celebration, “DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality,” is not only about how we must mainstream our women into the digital economy but more importantly about the broader issues of gender equity, equality and the health developmental needs of women and girls through our practices and policies.
Embracing gender equity for us in Nigeria has progressed beyond technology adoption and participation in innovation; to a more deeper engagement about how we treat issues of economic justice, social mobility and equitable (especially political) representation of women.
Our population demography and development indices indicate that we can only progress if we harness the numerical value of the human resources, the nation is blessed with. Specifically, our women play very important roles in national life from the family units where they nurture our children who will be next generation of leaders to the farmlands, markets and boardrooms where they play their role as major economic actors.
As we celebrate our women today, I hold sacred my promise to provide the enabling environment for these goals to become manifest and usher another dinension to the strength of Nigeria – our women.
Doing this will renew hope in Project Nigeria and energize the much needed citizen engagement agenda of our administration.
I wish all Nigerian women a happy celebration.
God Bless Nigeria. God bless the soul of the nation, our women.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu
President-Elect, Federal Republic of Nigeria