365 DAYS OF YAR’ADUA: Women and children in the last 365 days

In a twinkle of an eye, a year has rolled by and the Sheu Musa Yar’Adua -led democratic government is a year old. To mark the day, a lot of programmes were laid out both at the federal and state levels and all who had a cause to celebrate did so without holding back. Well, I guess we all have a cause to rejoice because despite problems here and there by the grace of God, we still remain a nation.

Women and children were not left out of the celebration and like his predecessor, the President carried women along in his administration. In the last dispensation, women were awakened to their political responsibilities and to some extent, the present government, like the immediate past, has created an enabling environment for women to participate and also hold political posts. Though there is awareness and increased participation, there is still room for more women participation as we are no where near the Beijing recommendation of 30per cent representation.

For the first time, Nigerian women would have been able to find themselves right at the helm of affairs, with the nomination of Hon. Etteh as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, but before the dream was realised, she was booted out. Hon. Foluke Etteh is not the only one whose appointment or issue attracted a lot of attention and comments (both positive and negative, depending on which angle you arelooking at it from). The Minister of Health Prof Adenike Grange and Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello are also presently on the hot seat for accountability.

Honourable Justice Iyabo Yerimah of Oyo State and Chief (Mrs.) Titi Oseni, former Ogun State Speaker who was impeached few weeks ago were not left out. Despite all these, women like Dora Akunyili of NAFDAC and others like her have kept the flag flying. The new EFCC boss, the amiable Hajia Faridah Waziri appointment has given women another reason to smile.

What about children? More still need to be done in the area of health. The Federal Government has taken positive steps concerning the fight against polio with the series of immunization programmes. What about killer malaria?. A lot of HIV/AIDS orphans need attention, drugs, shelter and love. Children need to be fed, as the food crisis in the country is is affecting them mostly. Food is expensive and one of the staple foods enjoyed by children, irrespective of parents status – rice, has become gold in the market.

Children’s education is another sector which is greatly affected. Because of the government’s lackadaisical attitude towards education, a lot of mushroom private schools have sprung up and instead of making the educational system better, they produce half -baked educated illiterates,as leaders of tomorrow. It’s high time the government began to take extra interest in children and women in the nation, as they are the future of our nation.