Deputy Speaker Lauds Women Focus On Addressing Insecurity, GBV, Others

By Oluwakemi Kindness

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has reaffirmed the National Assembly’s commitment to passing laws that promote inclusive leadership.

He made this assertion at the 2024 Annual Conference of Nakata Ndi Inyom Igbo, where he commended the group’s focus on addressing gender-based violence, insecurity, and other challenges.

Kalu emphasized that the 10th National Assembly is dedicated to creating an enabling environment for inclusive leadership and sustainable development.

He cited ongoing legislation that promotes gender equality and increases women’s participation in governance as examples of this commitment.

He said: “In particular, I commend the NNII’s focus on addressing challenges such as gender-based violence, insecurity, poor political representation, and economic disempowerment. These issues require urgent and coordinated action, and the NNII’s advocacy serves as a blueprint for achieving equity and fairness across Nigeria.

“I pledge my continued support in championing these causes and ensuring that the ideas generated in conferences like this one translate into actionable policies.”

The Deputy Speaker also acknowledged the critical role women play in shaping Nigeria’s socio-economic and cultural landscapes.

He encouraged the conference attendees to build lasting partnerships, initiate meaningful conversations, and inspire actionable solutions to drive sustainable growth for Nigeria.

“The role of women, especially the dynamic and resourceful women of Nkata Ndi Inyom Igbo, cannot be overstated in achieving the objectives of unity, development, and inclusivity.

For the Founder and President General of the group, Iyom Josephine Anenih, she said the aim of the conference is to urgently, through conversation, address pressing regional and national issues.

“Nkata is a great tool for development and we have through this year’s conference theme voiced our concerns about what ails the larger Nigerian nation”.

“We believe that there must be a shift from the channel noise of partisanship to the re-orientation of our value system, the need for social, economic and political inclusion and their sustainability,” Iyom Anenih said.

She said that the women have had to intervene in addressing the insecurity problems in the South East, encouragement of small and medium businesses especially through agriculture.

“We have addressed the flourishing pandemic of Ovum trade by fertility clinics that tends to be ruining the reproductive health of young ladies in our region. We are happy that our little interventions have slowly but steadily been yielding fruits” she said.

The conference attracted notable Igbo men and women as well as prominent Nigerians who agreed that Nigerian women have been in the forefront of national rebirth and deserve commendation.

The theme of the Nkata Ndi Inyom Igbo Annual Conference Abuja 2024 is “Driving Transformation Through Value Re-orientation, Inclusive Leadership And Sustainability”.

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