In view of ongoing discussions about how the
administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is yet
to come to terms on gender balance in his ministerial
list, the Director of Public Awareness, Arc
Development Initiative (ADI) and a representative of
the Voices of Women in Nigeria ( VOWIN ), Hajiya
Suffiya Abubakar spoke to LAOLU ADEYEMI on the
need for the President to strengthen the Office of the
First Lady.

AS a woman ambassador, what is the population
of women in Nigeria?

Nigeria has about 69,086,302 females (women)
according to the 2006 population census. This
population of women constitutes the voices, who gave
overwhelming support to bring President
Muhammadu Buhari to power during the last
Presidential Election. Nigerian women fought tooth
and nail to ensure the right person comes to power.

What inspired your group in this direction and
what is your interest?

I am speaking for women generally. My group
represents the voices of the concerned women in
Nigeria. We have decided to speak for change. The
current change we witnessed in government was as a
result of the yearnings of citizens for change. And we
are indeed happy that the change is here.

As women, we were particularly inspired by the
strength of character, beauty of heart and
intelligence of the President’s wife, Hajia Aisha
Buhari during the campaigns and thereafter.
We had, therefore, hoped that given her pedigree of
respect for all, education and compassion for the
plight of women and children, this administration
would do the women of Nigeria and indeed women
and children of Africa a great amount of good by
giving her an opportunity to function as First Lady of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria. But now, that is yet
to happen. Nigerian women in particular and Africa
in general, are unhappy because the president is yet
to recognise the office of the First Lady.

But there is no constitutional basis for the
creation of first lady office…

We acknowledge that there is no constitutional
provision for the existence of such an office, but we
also know that necessity, which brought about the
creation and existence of such an office in the past
has helped in no small measure to augment the
activities of the Federal Government, particularly in
the areas where women, children and disadvantaged
citizens are concerned.

Apart from her several donations of food items,
medicines, toiletries and other valuables worth
millions of naira to Internally Displaced Persons (IDP)
camps and orphanages in various parts of the
country, Hajiya Buhari has carried out many life-
saving health intervention programmes, especially in
the screening and prevention of the deadly cancer
disease. She had so far carried out the screening of
over 10,000 people in about five states within one
year.

For instance, 2000 women benefitted from her cancer
screening and general health assessment programme
in Cross River state. Similarly, in Yola, Adamawa
state, where the First Lady hails from, another 2,000
women were screened of cervical cancer in addition
to testing for other health conditions like blood
pressure, diabetics, hepatitis, kidney, liver and dental
examination.

In Enugu, more than 2,000 women also benefitted
from her cancer screening programme and medical
examination for other disease conditions earlier
enumerated. These various humanitarian gestures
came under her Women Health Initiative
Programme.
In a concerted effort to garner international support
for her Health Intervention Programme, Hajiya
Buhari unveiled her vision and mission for Nigerian
women and children in one of United Nations side
events in New York, titled, “Future Assured” held
on August 30, 2015.

Of what value is the office of the First Lady?

There is no doubt that the First Lady will do more
for millions of Nigerian women and children if her
office is given a constitutional role and strengthened
with the needed funding support and legal
framework. It is pertinent to note the following
points: The United Nations, development partners and
donor agencies recognise the roles of First Ladies in
the past and have collaborated with them on their
pet projects. The benefits of these pet projects are too
obvious and numerous to mention.

The presence of our First Lady in a gathering as
important as the just concluded UN Summit would
have created an additional opportunity for
networking and building relationship between
Nigeria and other countries of the world. Also, the
African First Ladies Peace Initiative is no doubt, a
laudable initiative. Nigeria can’t afford to be left out
of this humane effort.

So what are your expectations of President Buhari
in this instance?

As a representative of VOWIN, I am pleading with
Mr. President and other leaders that have served this
country to urgently intervene to allow the office of
the First Lady function. The advantages obviously
outweigh the disadvantages.

Source: www.ngrguardiannews.com/2015/10/buhari-needs-to-strengthen-office-of-first-lady/

Are you OK Hajjiya?
There is no office of first lady. We have office of the wife of the President