The Kano state government and seven other states have promised to domesticate the National Women Economic Empowerment (WEE) policy.

The states made the promise at the ongoing 24th National Council on Women Affairs on Wednesday in Jos.

The seven other states that expressed commitment to domesticating the policy include: Kaduna, Borno, Plateau, Enugu, Kwara, Lagos and Akwa-Ibom.

The commissioners for women affairs of the respective states made the commitment during plenary session at the ongoing meeting.

Aisha Saji, the Kano commissioner for women affairs, said that the move is part of its unwavering efforts toward enhancing the living condition of women in the state.

Represented by Yakubu Muhammad, the director, planning, research and statistics in the ministry, Ms Saji disclosed that the deliberate move had reached an advanced level.

She added that the move would be achieved through increased access to finance, agriculture, education and security, to boost economic development.

She added that “currently, over 5,000 Kano women receive monthly stipends of N50,000 each as part of intervention to improve their living conditions.

“By the time it is domesticated, the WEE policy will ensure more funds are allocated to issues affecting women in the state.”

She thanked all partners, particularly the Development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC), for the invaluable support toward domesticating the policy in the state.

On her part, Dr Ini Adiakpan, the commissioner for women affairs in Akwa Ibom, said that the WEE policy is designed to provide the required interventions that would move over 90 per cent of women in the state out of poverty.

“The WEE policy has adequate provisions to ensure access to finance, education, healthcare services and every social intervention that will properly cater for the needs of women in Akwa Ibom.”

In his remarks, Dr Stanley Ukpai, the director of projects of dRPC, called on the 36 states of the federation to domesticate the policy.

He explained that the policy serves as a guide that would provide a framework for decision-making, budgeting, annual operating plans, among other, to promote the core values of the states.

Mr  Ukpai said “Nigeria has thousands of policies which focus on gender, but there is only one policy on women in the economy, and that’s the WEE policy.

“Of the thousands of gender policies in Nigeria, only the National Women Policy of 1999 focuses primarily on women; others focus on gender.

“So, the WEE policy provides the most effective framework for tracking how women benefit from allocated resources, finances and access to opportunities in the economy.”

(NAN)