13th February, 2012
The first South-West Conference of Women in Governance ended in Lagos at the weekend with a call by the women for increased representation of women in governance in the region.
The women said they were disenchanted with the paltry 12 percent representation of women in governance in the South-West region, saying that they were pushing for the increase in accordance with the Beijing Conference of 1995, which affirmed 30-35 percent women representation in government.
The conference was put together by the Department for International Development, DFID, and the Office of the Deputy Governor of Lagos State.
The women advocated that maximum opportunities should be given to them to effect a change in the country.
Declaring the workshop closed, the Deputy Governor and convener of the conference, Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, said women from the South- West region were leaving the workshop better enriched and galvanised for the task of impacting positively on the lives of the people through the respective offices they occupied.
Adefulire, while reading the communiqué at the end of the conference said women, among other things, were ready to put in place a committee whose membership would cut across all the participating states to evaluate and report the implementation of the outcome of the workshop.
The deputy governor disclosed that women at the conference were poised to play significant roles in conflict prevention and management. She also called for the inclusion of women in any constitution review that the country might embark on.