Women

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Nigerian women at the Sun Newspaper Women Summit in Asaba Delta State have been asked to work together to actualise their potentials in any field of endeavour

THE maiden edition of the Sun Newspapers women summit which took place in Asaba Delta State last week, provided the opportunity for Nigerian women to deliberate on issues affecting womenfolk and how best they can contribute to the development of the nation. The summit which was attended by prominent Nigerian women who have made their mark in the sands of time, also commended the Delta state government for hosting the event and governing the state well.

Emmanuel Uduaghan, Delta State governor, who declared the summit open urged women to always cooperate among themselves so as to harness their potentials to the fullest in their fields of endeavour. He advised that “women must come together to win in a man’s world. They should refuse to be used to pull down or limit their fellow women in whatever fields of endeavour.” He said women have the capacity to aspire to any position if they were united and observed that they, most often do not succeed for positions they aspire to because their fellow women were used to thwart their efforts.

“The women must agree to work together. They will win in elections by refusing to be manipulated by men to be used against their fellow women. The men can manoeuvre their ways in politics but, it is difficult for women to do so,” he said. According to him, Delta State has surpassed the 35 percent affirmative action for women while his administration has identified the abilities of women to produce results honestly and was harnessing such abilities to the fullest. A lot of women from Delta State were recording great successes in different fields of life, he noted, stating that the Evelyn Oputu, former managing director of Bank of Industry, Ngozi Okonko-Iweala, minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, Blessing Okagbare, Olympic medalist, among others were making Nigeria proud in their chosen fields.

Oputu, who gave the keynote lecture, said that for Nigeria to have the status of a developed nation, the potentials of women should be unlocked, adding that women have the same traits with men. Also, Mulikat Akande-Adeola, majority leader of the House of Representatives, who was the chairperson of the occasion, said the summit provided the opportunity for women to discuss how to be involved in the decision making process of the country.

Similarly, Farida Waziri, former chairman of the EFCC She said the Sun Women Summit was timely and urged women to always put in their best in whatever they do, saying “I want to ask women not to lose their femininity, respect themselves, dress responsibly and at the end, they will earn respect.” Waziri also observed that Uduaghan was running a transparent administration and following due process in its financial transactions. Waziri said:  “The governor never crossed my path and I never crossed his while I was in EFCC, that is why I have the confidence to come into Delta State. He is a performing governor, following due process and he has done very well for his people. When I was coming, I thought I will have to land in Benin, but was told there was an airport here, the Asaba International Airport that I saw is one of the best in the country, your Governor has performed well in infrastructural development.”

On his part, Femi Adesina, managing director of Sun Newspaper, explained that the summit was an important forum to give women the opportunity to discuss on the way forward and commended the Delta State government for hosting the maiden edition of the summit.

— Oct. 20, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT

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