President Bola Tinubu has provided “unprecedented political backing” for women’s empowerment and social impact programmes, women’s affairs minister Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim has said.

Ms Sulaiman-Ibrahim stated this at the Nigeria House in New York during a dinner organised for the Nigerian delegation to the ongoing 70th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

The minister said Mr Tinubu “has done everything for us to get to where we are today, and we can see a lot of political prioritisation for the work that we do”.

“It means that we are getting something right and we have done something right,” she said. “From the leadership of our beloved President Bola Tinubu down to the very least level of leadership, we see men rooting for us, so how we navigate is entirely up to us.”

The minister challenged women to “work smarter” and speak with one voice”.

The chargé d’affaires at the permanent mission of Nigeria to the UN, Syndoph Endoni, said CSW was “ultimately about people, about the dignity, rights and opportunities of women and girls whose lives our policies are meant to improve”.

Mr Endoni said the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr Tinubu was a national framework aimed at promoting inclusive growth, social protection and expanded opportunities for all Nigerians.

The diplomat noted that national social protection programmes have now reached about 10 million households, with women accounting for more than 70 per cent of the beneficiaries.

Also speaking, the chairman of the House Committee on Women Affairs and Social Development, Kafilat Ogbara, regretted the under-representation of women in parliament.

Mr Ogbara said lawmakers are working on a popular affirmative action bill to reserve special seats for women.

“We are trying very hard to ensure that this bill passes through, to be able to take effect by the next election,” she said.

(NAN)