THE Plateau State Government has approved and upgraded the first ever highest budgetary allocation of over one point five billion Naira (#1.1b) to the state Ministry for Women Affairs and Social Development. This is to help meet the pressing needs of the ministry which has hindered its smooth operations.
The Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Hon. Caroline Panglang Dafur, disclosed this recently, while declaring open the Media Roundtable on the occasion marking 16 Days of Activism 2023, held at the Valada Hotel in Jos, the Plateau State capital where discussants from CSOs, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Nigeria Association of Women Journalists , Human Rights, etc, were in attendance.
The Commissioner said, “When I came on board, they had already defended the budget of four hundred million or so but I said no. What are we going to do with four hundred million? How are we going to handle the problems of women, children and other needs?
“So, I had to meet the Commissioner for Budget and Planning and his Permanent Secretary and I told them we have to revisit this budget because I cannot work with this budget to meet the ministry’s current demanding needs that had been a serious challenge to the state.
“So, we were able to tap the budget to one point one billion Naira (#1.1b). For implementation, I strongly believe that Governor Mutfwang has the women and children in mind and he is not going to play with that because so far, there is no memo that I have submitted to him that he has not signed”, she enthused.
Dafur, therefore, assured participants that this government was going to take the issue of women and children very seriously and that the Ministry would continue to organise activities that have to do with awareness creation across the 17 Local Government Areas of the state.
Earlier, the State Focal Person of the Media Network for Women, Peace and Security (WPS), Mr. Wika Gofwen, described the theme: “Unite! Invest to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls”, as apt and commended the UN-Women for supporting the programme in the fight against gender violence.
He said the media roundtable discussion was going to be a magnifier that would add value as they work towards seeing that they break the ongoing silence in gender violent issues that have affected women and girls. This will help address this unfortunate situation.
However, the panel discussants barred their minds starting with the State Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mrs. Ayuku Pwaspo, who was represented by her Vice, Mr. Pam Musa. She called on stakeholders to collaborate with the NUJ in creating more awareness to the public on violence against women and girls to reduce the insensitive reports of gender violence.
Also as Discussant, the State Chairperson of National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Mrs. Nene Dung, urged stakeholders to stop paying lip service in terms of budgetary provision to rape cases if really they care to address violence against women and girls and would not only appear on the16 day activism commemoration.
Other discussants who stressed on the need for collaboration included; the State Coordinator of Media Peace Network, Mathew Tega, representative of Women Mentors, the representative of State Coordinator HeForShe, Mr. Stanley Smiles Mani respectively.
Meanwhile, the National Consultant Supporting Women, Peace and Security (WPS), UN-Women Nigeria, Ms. Olutoyin Falade, said this year’s theme: Unite, Invest to Prevent Violence against Women and Girls” was in recognition of the fact that many people were hoping for collaboration. “It is high time that all investment for violence against women come into one basket so we do not find some pieces in one local government alone.
