Lagos Supports Women with N2.1Bn as Osinbajo, Ambode, Fayose, others Laud Female Virtues

Dupe Olaoye-Osinkolu & Sekinah Lawal/

Wife of the Vice President, Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo and Lagos State governor’s wife, Mrs Bolanle Ambode, along with five state governors, sang praises of Nigerian women in Lagos on Tuesday.

Attesting to the leadership qualities of Nigerian women, at the 17^th National Women’s Conference held at Eko Hotel in Lagos, the dignitaries admitted that Nigeria would be better off with a woman at the top.

The theme of the conference organised by Committee of Wives of Lagos State Officials, COWLSO, was: “She Creates, She Transforms”.

It was opened under the Chairmanship of Akwa Ibom state governor, Mr Udom Gabriel Emmanuel. He said that celebrating women shouldn’t be an event but a habit, and that women liberation was men’s liberation.

Ekiti State governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, said, “If you put women on the driver’s seat in this country, this country will turn around.”

He added that, in Ekiti State, during the local government elections, if men scored 60 and women 40 per cent, the women would be declared winners to encourage them. Fayose’s entrance into the hall was greeted with loud ovation as other governors and guests hailed him, saying: “Oshokomole… PDP Chair…”

All the Governors in attendance – Edo, Ekiti, Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom earlier said they were sent by their wives.

Bayelsa State governor, Seriake Dickson, commended Mrs Ambode for keeping up a tradition that started in Lagos 17 years ago. He said that his state would replicate the women conference as one of the good things they were borrowing from Lagos.

“Without women, men’s lives can never be complete. The theme of the conference, She Creates, She Transforms, says everything about womanhood and the great things that women all over the world are doing. You give a woman money, she gives you food. You give her a ordinary building, she makes it a home for you,” he said.

He also joked that other states are not only copying good programs from Lagos but ‘stealing good ideas’.

The host Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos, said: “Women impact positively on children, family, nation and the world, and they are always committed to given assignments.”

He said that N2.1 billion had so far been disbursed to women in Lagos State from Employment Trust Fund, even as he urged more women to key into the programme.

Wife of the Vice President, Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo urged women to brace up for the tasks ahead as the next generation is waiting for them, to show them how to create and transform.

She added that women must join forces to make things better and create the right value in children, homes, offices, the nation and the world at large.

The Chairman of COWLSO, Mrs Akinwunmi Ambode, said that the theme of the conference was expected to focus on the ingenuity of the Nigerian women in the pursuit of innovative and practical solutions, aimed at achieving sustainable development within her immediate sphere and community at large.

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