Groups commend AbdulRazaq over appointments

Our Reporter

 

NO fewer than 170 women groups have commended Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq for appointing nine women as commissioners.

Also, in a letter to the governor, a London-based development advocate, Taibat Hussain Aduragba, hailed the governor for his confidence in women folk.

The More Women Group (MWG), an amalgam of 169 women bodies across the country, praised AbdulRazaq for breaking the yoke of poor representation of women and youths in governance.

A statement by Dr Abiola Akiyode Afolabi and Ms Felicia Onibon on behalf of the group said: “This gesture will be recorded in history as the first of its kind in Nigeria. The appointment demonstrates his support for women voices and serves as a recognition of their relevance in the society.”

They added: “Modelling a best practice of this nature is important for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). We, therefore, applaud the first SHERO Governor for breaking the cycle of women’s exclusion in Nigeria. We applaud the All Progressives Congress (APC) for supporting this development in the state and call on all other state Governors to imbibe the culture of equitable representation for better and prosperous governance.”

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Aduragba said AbdulRazaq’s action was a jinx-breaker in the history of the North Central State. She lauded the governor for appointing Nigeria’s youngest commissioner and another woman-banker to head the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KW-IRS).

She said: “I have been in Kwara all my life, and this is the first time, I can recall, where due respect, fairness and relevance is giving to the womenfolk in the administration of our great state of harmony,” according to Aduragba who is currently running her Master’s degree in Development Economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) of the University of London.

“This has gone a long way to rectify the imbalance generated during the general elections where men occupied all elective positions in the state, and not just that; it also fulfilled the demand of advocacy groups that 50 percent of every state’s political appointments be reserved for women.”

Aduragba said the appointment has given fillip to Goal 5 (empowering women and girls) of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Kwara State, hoping that the step will hasten the realisation of more SDG goals.