UN Women, a United Nations’ entity working for the empowerment of women, has commended Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly Rt. Hon. Abubakar Y Suleiman for providing strong leadership and efforts to mainstream gender priorities in the work of Bauchi State House of Assembly.
UN Women representative to ECOWAS and Nigeria Comfort Lamptey made this known in a commendation letter sent to the Speaker.
According to her, UN Women has acknowledged the significant inroads that has been made under the leadership of the Speaker to table the Violence against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Bill for adoption in Bauchi State.
“This is a very welcome step not only for Bauchi State but for the important inspiration and example it will set for other states in the North-East and across the country.” She said.
The Representative explained that UN Women has established productive partnership with the State Assembly under the programme on Women, Peace and Security launched last year which she said the legislative support they have provided under the programme has resulted in the undertaking of comprehensive gender needs and capacity assessments of the State Assembly and an inaugural seminar on Gender and the Nigeria National Action Plan (NAP on United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325.
She also unveiled the plan of UN Women to launch a Guide on Nigerian Legislature’s Role in advancing Women, Peace and Security later this month, which will form the basis of their ongoing capacity building initiatives for legislators and the State House of Assembly.
According to the Representative, once the Violence against Persons Prohibition Bill is adopted and sufficiently implemented, it will go a long way in preventing and responding to the pandemic of gender-based violence that is undermining the rights of women and girls in Nigeria.
In statement signed by spokesperson to the speaker Bauchi state House of assembly said the representative pledged that UN Women stands ready to provide its support to see the process through, including through the requisite technical assistant and resourcing and importantly to ensure full implementation of the Bill once it is adopted.
