Agency The Federal Government has inaugurated the second phase of the Women Project on Resource Centres to increase women’s representation in governance and decision-making. The programme is being implemented by the Maryam Babangida National Centre for Women Development in collaboration with the UN Women. Director General of the Centre, Dr Asabe Vilita-Bashir, said this at a news conference on Friday in Abuja.
She said the poor representation of women in the governance and decision-making process has been a barrier to national development. “I want to address a critical issue that affects the very fabric of our society: the underrepresentation of women in governance and decision-making in Nigeria. “Despite making up nearly half of our population, women hold only a small fraction of leadership positions in government, business, and civil society.
“This disparity is not only unfair, but it also hinders our collective progress and development,” she said. According to Vilita-Bashir, the centre in collaboration with the UN Women and the Canadian Government had established Zonal Resource Centres in Abuja, Calabar, and Maiduguri, to address the situation and improve women’s political representation. The MBNCWD boss explained that under the first phase, the centres were called Resource Centres for Women in Politics, which metamorphosed into Women in Governance and Decision Making for a broader focus.
The centre, she said would be a hub for women’s empowerment to take on .