The National Women Conference of the Centenary Celebration with the theme, “Celebrating 100 Years of the Nigerian Woman,” ended in Lagos today, with the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, calling on Nigerian women to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the Government of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to further improve the lives of Nigerian women for effective national development.
The First Lady, who was represented at the closing ceremony by Hajia (Dr) Amina Namadi Sambo, wife of the Vice President, noted that women must be united and focused to successfully attain their desired goals. According to Dame Jonathan, women, “must continue to work side by side and hand in hand, helping one another to find and sustain hope, energy and confidence.”
While recalling the accomplishments of some of Nigeria’s illustrious amazons, she maintained that the emergence of modern Nigeria has taken as much of the sweat and sacrifices of the Nigerian woman as that of the man.
According to the First Lady, the sacrifices of Nigerian heroines imposed a duty on women to uphold the letter and spirit of the National Anthem, “which says the labours of our heroes past shall never be in vain.”
She noted that the Conference had provided a platform for robust deliberations on gender-centric issues and affirmed that the lesson to take away from the discussions is that the Nigerian woman is sufficiently patriotic and has both the capacity and the will to make a difference in the life of the nation.
In his own remarks, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, informed participants that one of the objectives of this Conference is to evolve a Country Report on issues concerning women which would include recommendations. He said that the report, which was to be coordinated by the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajia Zainab Maina would be formally presented to President Goodluck Jonathan at the Centenary grand finale on January 1st, 2014.
The conference was attended by former First Ladies and wives of former Vice Presidents. Also in attendance were some Governors and their wives, federal and state Legislators, Ministers, Diplomats, women in business and industry, as well as representatives of women groups and associations from across the country.