The Honourable Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has called for a closer working relationship between the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and the National Center for Women Development (NCWD) for the promotion of issues relating to the wellbeing of women in the FCT. The Minister made this call during a courtesy visit by the Management of the Center to the FCTA on Tuesday, June 29.
Malam Bello said that the FCT has always been in the forefront of the promotion of issues that relate to women especially the girl child and is usually one of the first to implement all gender protocols including those contained in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
He also reminded his guests that the National Center for Women Development was located in close proximity to the FCTA and advised its management to use this advantage to work very closely with the FCTA to promote women issues in the FCT that can be replicated in other parts of the country. He said: “A lot of things are being done at the FCT level and it’s a stone throw distance between your office and our office. I think it’s good for you to do a lot here so that when delegations from other states of the Federation come, they will see practically what you are doing jointly in partnership with the FCT so that they can replicate them in their respective states”
The FCT Minister also congratulated the Director General of the NCWD on her appointment saying that her antecedents in the fight for women and children’s rights and gender equality were well documented and wished her a successful tenure.
Speaking earlier the Director General of the Center Hon. (Dr) Asabe Vilita Bashir said that the purpose of the visit was to intimate the FCT Minister on the workings of the Center as an institution created for gender research, training and orientation.
She said that the Center is interested in addressing the strategic elements and critical factors that affect women generally and is working with the support of Nigeria’s Gender Agenda, the African Platform for Action and the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action to facilitate the formation of appropriate policies training and organisation programmes for Nigerian women.