APC National Women Conference Dinner On 19/01/2022

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REMARKS BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA AT THE APC NATIONAL WOMEN CONFERENCE DINNER ON THE 19^TH OF JANUARY, 2022

PROTOCOLS

Honourable Stella Okotete and all Progressive women, thank you very much for the kind invitation to this dinner and I am very honoured to be here with you.

I also bring you the warm felicitations of the number 1  he-for-she champion in Nigeria, our President, President Muhammadu Buhari, and to demonstrate his commitment to that role, Mr. President insisted that women must be given equal opportunities in our Social Investment Programmes.    So, of the 2.4million beneficiaries of the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, 1.2million were women; that is  56.4% of beneficiaries. Women are the heart and soul of our party the APC and we all know it.

Who doesn’t know that women are the most reliable voters?  It was my dear sister, Hon. Dr Zainab Gimba, who said that women hold half the sky and that if they get angry, they may let it fall! And if they were to let half the sky fall, they will let it fall on we men who, of course, they rightly hold responsible for discrimination against them.

I think they are right, any society that refuses to acknowledge and deploy the talents, skills, energy and capacity of half of its population, has set itself up for failure. It’s as simple as that! And so it is with a political party, any political party anywhere in the world, that does not give equal opportunities to women is setting itself up for failure.

So, I agree that we really have no choice but to recognize the crucial position of our women and we resolve that it is time for equal representation. While women are breaking the glass ceiling in business and the corporate world, things are much slower in politics and in public service. As for the public sector, and politics especially, a lot more needs to be done, and faster too.

Michelle Bachelet, former President of Chile once said, and I quote: “For me, a better democracy is a democracy where women do not only have the right to vote and to elect, but to be elected.”

There is no gainsaying the fact that we need more women in elected office across Nigeria. Across the world, we are definitely witnessing a sea change in this regard. A year ago, the first female Vice President of the United States assumed office, more than two centuries after the country started having Vice Presidents.

And right now there are female Presidents or Prime Ministers in Denmark, Moldova, Finland, Iceland, New Zealand, Barbados, among others. In Barbados, both the current President and current Prime Minister are women. At the end of last year, one of the most powerful and inspiring women to ever hold public office, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, honourably stepped down after occupying the Chancellor-ship of Germany for the better part of two decades.

All of these stories are inspiring. They send a strong message to women and men around the world, that it is possible, it can be done. There is nothing that men have to offer in leadership that women don’t equally have. In fact, a recent study from India found that electing women legislators actually contributes to slightly higher levels of economic output in constituencies. So it is time to actively bring the women on board.

But when I looked at the theme of this conference: One Voice — Women Uniting for Progress, it reminded me of the slogan that when women support women, great things happen! That is true, but when men help women to help women, greater things will happen!

Thank you very much and enjoy the rest of the evening.