The Nigerian Government has inaugurated the third National Action Plan (NAP) Technical Working Committee of the 22nd anniversary of the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCRl) on Women, Peace and Security.
Nigeria’s Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Pauline Tallen, who inaugurated the committee on Monday in Abuja, said that the UNSCR recognised women’s role as peace builders and agents of change.
According to her, there is need to increase women’s participation in conflict prevention and peace building processes at all levels.
Tallen also said that the Ministry had been proactive in the implementation of UNSCR-132 and that it had made remarkable progress in the first and second NAP.
The Minister explained that although Nigeria experienced some setbacks in developing the third generation NAP, she is optimistic that it will address emerging security issues affecting the nation.
“We are confident that it will capture emerging peace and security issues from humanitarian and human rights perspectives, among others.
“And it would be a great instrument to address various fragments of insecurity situations experienced in almost every nook and cranny of our society,” local media reports on Tuesday quoted the Minister as saying.
The minister also said that one of the major achievements in the implementation was the domestication of NAP by 15 states in Nigeria.
She listed the states as; Adamawa, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Delta, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Kwara, Kogi, Nasarawa, Plateau, Rivers, with corresponding Local Action Plan (LAP).
“Katsina State, which would make the 16th state, has finalised the development of its Action Plan, which will be launched before the end of this year.”
While lauding the states for their efforts in domesticating NAP, the minister appealed to them to make budgetary provisions for its implementation.
Tallen said that women’s adequate participation in conflict resolution and peace processes remained the panacea to the heightened insecurity around the world and within the country.
She, therefore, charged the committee to use expertise to expedite the process and bring about a national document that would be of global standard.
She disclosed that 25 persons from relevant organisations were selected as members of the committee, with a time frame of five months to unveil the documents.
UN Women Deputy Country Representative, Mr Lansanah Wonneh, said the first and second NAP recorded successes, and was also extended and implemented at the state and local government levels.
Wonneh, however, noted that funding, monitoring and evaluation are some of the challenges in the implementation and expressed the need to address it for more successes.
Dr Lydia Umar, a member of the committee, assured that members would strive hard toward achieving the committee’s mandate.
Umar said that the diverse and intergenerational members of the group from all sectors would use their expertise to contribute to resolving security issues in the country.
GIK/APA