Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan has directed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, to ensure that women constitute 35 per cent ofall government committees.

This was disclosed by the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, Thursday night while speaking at the two-day National Conference and Special Dinner to celebrate 100 years of the Nigerian Woman, held at the Eko Hotel and Suits, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The First Lady commended the Federal Government for the remarkable progress made in attaining the 35 per cent affirmative action and being gender sensitive.She said it was pertinent to reflect the historical perspective of the Nigerian women – their achievements and sacrifices as they stood beside men in national building.

In his speech at the occasion, President Jonathan highlighted his administration’s operational strategy for promoting gender equality and women empowerment, which he said is obvious in systematic gender considerations in all policies, programmes and organisational cultures in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

“The gender equity is ensured and assured ingovernment programmes and projects with no compromise in quality and competence, by a synergy of purpose and action, enabling greater synchronised frequency in the administration, for the good of our nation,” said Jonathan, who was represented at the event by Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo.

He noted that “government has given women ample opportunity to show the world that womanhood remains the bastion of continuity and existence.” He also noted that by political will, government has ensured that strategic positions that were never before be given to women, saying the Federal Government has gone beyond tokenism and numerical value in recognition of excellence and constituency in the deployment of policies to dismantle barriers that have been erected to prevent the ascendency of womanhood in all sectors of the economy.

The Nigerian leader said that an innovative approach has been developed to integrate women starting with five pilot Ministries, namely Agriculture, Health, Communication Technology, Water Resources and Works, which have delivered on targeted servicesfor women, as regulated by the MOU signed with the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development. He disclosed that the Ministry of Agriculture will work with Ministry of Communications Technology to ensure that 5 million women farmers and agricultural entrepreneurs are provided withal necessary assistance that will enable them to access the needed resources for higher productivity.

On the health and other sectors, President said the Ministry of Health has expanded its on-going “Save a Million Lives” initiative to restore health and hope to one-third of the number of young girls and women who have been waiting for VVF surgical repairs and economic rehabilitation; the Ministry of Works and FERMA have been directed to increase the number of women employed in public works programme, contractors and others with a set target of 35 percent, as funds have been set aside for disbursement to the targeted MDAs and other new government programmes such as the YouWIN and SURE-P, to create wealth and job opportunities as well as combat malaria and maternal and child mortality.

He commended the women who sponsored the programme and reminded Nigerians that with the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates, Nigeria emerged as an entity with more than 250 ethnic groups and languages and the history of the pre- and post-colonial Nigeria has been replete with instances of fearless women organising principled protests for development and against injustice.

In his remarks the SGF, Senator Anyim, commended Nigerian women, saying the event was organised to celebrate them. He noted that this is the first time in the history of the country that so many women have occupied key positions in government.

•Photo: President Jonathan.