Prof. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, President of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), has said that women should be at the centre of all national development issues for Nigeria to be able to achieve the Social Development Goals (SDGs).
Muhammad-Bande, who emerged President of the 74th UN General Assembly in September, was on his first official visit to Nigeria.
He tasked the women during an interaction with Mrs. Pauline Tallen, Minister of Women Affairs, and her counterpart Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development and other women groups in Abuja on Monday.
“If we must leave no one behind as the SDG theme says, then women must be at the centre of what we do,” he said.
He, therefore, decried the rates of gender-based violence meted on women, adding that, “rape is clearly an issue, which we need to address as a taboo”.
The UNGA president, therefore, reiterated the commitment of the Assembly toward ending all forms of violence against women and children and promoting their rights.
In her remarks, the UN Country Representative in Nigeria, Ms Comfort Lamptey, stressed the need for the government to reflect on the achievement made toward resolving the plights of women and children in the country.
Lamptey stressed the need to restrategise and reconnect on ways to address the issue of gender based violence with the view of ending it at the root.
“We must root out all forms of violence against women and children. Invest in the empowerment of women and ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice, while victims are supported,” she said.
Tallen said the launch of the Sexual Offender Register would provide data for the public on those convicted for sexual offenses, which would serve as a deterrent to others.
Tallen, therefore, called on women to engage actively toward addressing gender based violence.
MM/GIK/APA