Stakeholders in the women’s and girls’ social development say that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) partnership with state Commissioners of Women Affairs will advance their programmes in Nigeria.

The stakeholders said this at a dialogue organised by the UNDP to advance partnerships with states for programming for women and girls in Nigeria on Thursday in Abuja.

UNDP resident representative in Nigeria, Elsie Attafuah, said the dialogue would foster collaboration and exchange ideas on collectively enhancing initiatives that promote the welfare, empowerment, and rights of women and girls in Nigeria.

Ms Attafuah noted that though there were pockets of crisis across the country, there were still opportunities to be tapped into to change the lives of women and girls.

She urged women to rise up to the challenges and organise themselves together to access UN support.

The dean of commissioners for women affairs and social development of the 36 states led by Ini Adiakpan urged development partners for assistance to improve the situation of women and girls in the country.

Ms Adiakpan said the special intervention was necessary to curb the current growing number of street children and the suffering of women in the country.

“The street children must be urgently taken off the streets through proper packaged intervention to curb the risk of them turning into criminals and bandits,” noted Ms Adiakpan.

She noted that 90 per cent of women were in agriculture and needed to be improved and taught how to use high-breed technology to solve the lack of food in Nigeria.

Adedayo Benjamins-Laniyi, FCTA mandate secretary at the Women Affairs Secretariat, said Nigeria was ready to talk with stakeholders about bringing out the best in the lives of vulnerable women and girls in Nigeria.

(NAN)