No story of Nigeria is complete without women – Tinubu

By Favour Ulebor

The President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has said that nary communicative of Nigeria’s travel tin beryllium told without the sacrifices and resilience of women, stressing that they person remained astatine the centre of nation-building from independency to date.

Speaking astatine the 9th Edition of the Voice of Women Conference and Awards (VOW2025), held connected Thursday successful Abuja, Tinubu commended women for their corporate struggles done past and assured them that his medication is resolute successful opening much opportunities for them nether the Renewed Hope Agenda.

President Tinubu, who was represented by the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hon. Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, noted that from their roles arsenic protectors of families to drivers of innovation and enterprise, Nigerian women proceed to beryllium the backbone of progress, and indispensable beryllium empowered to instrumentality their rightful spot successful shaping the country’s future.

He said, “Our ever supportive and resilient Nigerian Women, arsenic President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I salute the 9th Edition of the Voice of Women Conference, holding astatine the dawn of Nigeria’s 65th Independence Anniversary, a reminder that the communicative of our federation is incomplete without the spot of her women.

“Guided by this year’s theme, ‘Nigerian Women and the Power of Collective Action,’ your voices stay the heartbeat of our country; echoing, undaunted, unyielding, and rising to signifier a aboriginal of equity and advancement nether the Renewed Hope Agenda,” Tinubu said.

In his remarks, Vice President Kashim Shettima, successful his goodwill message, aligned with the President’s remarks, describing Nigerian women arsenic the backbone of the nation’s resilience and the vanguard of its future.

He noted that women person ever played a stabilising relation successful the country, contributing to peace, unity and improvement successful ways that often spell unnoticed.

He said: “The theme, ‘Nigerian Women and the Power of Collective Action,’ is some timely and timeless, reminding america that women are the backbone of our nation’s resilience and the vanguard of its future.”

In her keynote address, the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hon. Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, traced the past of women’s activism successful Nigeria, recalling landmark struggles specified arsenic the Aba Women’s Protest of 1929, the Egba Women’s Revolt successful the 1940s, and women-led coalitions during the nation’s instrumentality to ideology successful the 1990s.

She said these historical struggles underline the enduring tone of corporate action.

The Minister called connected women to determination beyond advocacy to factual enactment by demanding accountability from leaders and insisting connected practice astatine each level of decision-making.

She said it was nary longer capable for women to observe historical struggles without translating them into existent gains successful the present.

Sulaiman-Ibrahim further urged women to leverage corporate enactment to situation stereotypes, mentor younger women, and enactment 1 different successful breaking barriers that bounds their entree to opportunities.

She said, “These legacies punctual america that erstwhile women basal together, they crook the arc of past toward justice, equity, and progress.

“Women indispensable not lone beryllium seen but besides heard, not lone counted but besides counted upon. We indispensable emergence supra tokenism and propulsion for genuine information successful political, economic, and societal spheres. The Nigerian pistillate is not conscionable a helper, she is simply a leader.”

Representing the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, Chairperson of the House Committee connected Women Affairs, Hon. Kafilat Adetola Ogbara, emphasised that unity among women remains the astir effectual way to breaking barriers successful governance and development.

He noted that greater collaboration would make stronger bargaining powerfulness and guarantee women’s demands are nary longer ignored.

Convener of the conference, Toun Okewale Sonaiya, urged grassroots women to usage their numbers and voting powerfulness to enactment women successful politics, stressing that this is the lone mode to construe a...