By Naisha Mohammed
Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, unlike his colleagues in the presidential race has described Nigerian women as catalysts and contributors that play vital roles in the development of the nation at all levels and has proven it with some of the visible and practical track records.
For the first time in the history of Rivers State, the governor has set a record in women’s involvement in governance, with the first female deputy governor, first female senator, all-female vice chairpersons in all the 23 LGAs and also, first female chief judges.
Speaking at the inauguration of the executive members of Rivers State chapter of the National Council for Women Societies (NCWS) in Port Harcourt in an event recently, the governor urged women to be more vocal, involved, and proactive to prevent the dwindling fortunes of the nations socio-political and economic status.
He said: “You are catalysts and instruments for social engineering in our society. If women are not part of what society does, society will not progress. Every man, irrespective of who he is, has a woman whom he adores or loves. The late Dr. Myles Monroe once said: “Women are incubators that transform, multiply and make better anything you give her.”
Recently, on March 1 which commenced the international women’s day, Nigerian women commemorated the day by converging the mother of all protest in front of the National Assembly gate, where lawmakers were prevented from gaining access because of the women’s protest on the failure of NASS to vote for the gender bills.
Unlike other governors from the opposition, the Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike berated the National Assembly for failing to approve the bills seeking to ensure gender equality in Nigeria.
The Governor accused the National Assembly of disgracing the women even after the wives of the President and Vice president attended their plenary sessions to solicit support for the bills.
Governor Wike noted that in Rivers State, the Peoples Democratic Party made it a policy for women to produce the council vice chairmen and at least five councillors seats in each local government area of the state.
He said “when I saw our wives, women being disgraced, it has never happened anywhere; where the wives of the President and the Vice President will go to the plenary session of the National Assembly to lobby them to at least help the women.”
Nyesom Wike has reiterated that in Rivers State the state Assembly does not need to be lobbied, it is a matter of leadership. Our party controls the state and what we say will be will be.
As part of efforts to ensure more women inclusion in politics, the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has sworn in Dame Anengi Barasua, JP., as the first female Executive Chairman of Bonny Local Government Area a show of leadership in action.
Come 2023 Elections Nigerian women are not looking ahead for what can be done, they are looking in-between the lines with what has been done now and by whom, where the efforts have been deliberate and consistent.
If we must get the project Nigeria right, one that is inclusive, equitable and just, then we must look to NEW, NYESOM EZENWO WIKE the clear evidence of a man who is focused on impacts rather than mere rhetorics.
*Naisha Mohammed wrote from Kogi State.