BEVERLY HILLS, November 06, (THEWILL) – Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar who is also a presidential aspirant of All Progressives Congress (APC) said Thursday that the rights of women and girls need to be protected and promoted.
“As a country we are currently not doing enough in that regard, not in educating them, not in promoting and caring for their health, not in dealing with crimes against them such as rape, not in protecting child labourers of which girls tend to be in the majority as house-helps, not in reducing their sexual exploitation and trafficking by pimps and other criminal elements in society,” he said.
Atiku spoke at the public presentation of a book, Re-thinking the Legal Framework for rights of Women and Girl-Child in Nigeria, in honour of his wife, Hajiya Amina Titi Atiku Abubakar, at the Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja.
He lamented that the growing insecurity in the country makes matters even worse for women and the girl-child, saying almost on a daily basis Nigerians are inundated with reports of kidnappings, rape, and busted baby factories across the country.
“And we have the unconscionable abduction of hundreds of girls and women in north Eastern Nigeria by insurgents. This growing insecurity is not an excuse to neglect girls’ and women’s rights; it is the reason to do more to protect and promote those rights.
“In addition to being a right, educating the girl-child has many spinoff benefits for the family and society: reduced child marriage, improved child health, improved maternal health, improved literacy, education, and employment prospects. And improved education and employment will help reduce insecurity across the country,” he said.
According to Atiku, figures from the United Nations, national reports and studies initiated by non-governmental organisations always show that girls, as a group, have lower literacy rates, received less health care, and are often more impoverished than boys.
Explaining why he had to make it to the event despite his tight political schedule, Atiku said “it is not just for peace at my home; it is because the woman being honoured by this book is worth it.”
According to the APC presidential aspirant, “ The honour is well-deserved; the work she started many years ago, in 1999, I think, has continued. It speaks of her commitment to the cause, her dedication to duty and her passion for women’s and children’s rights. That woman being honoured today is my lovely wife, Amina Titi Atiku.”
Continuing , Atiku said “Ever since we got married, she has always looked beyond her immediate family to reach out and extend a helping hand to others.
“She did not recoil to the relative comfort of her own home but determined to help others. It is this concern for others that led her to set up Women Trafficking and Child labour Eradication Foundation (WOTCLEF) to help address the serious matter of human trafficking, especially as it affects women and children. She initiated the first Private member’s bill and so to it that it was passed into law by the National Assembly.
“That law is the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement and Administration Act, 2003. It is that law that gave birth to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP). Titi has remained resolute and focused on the cause.”
Describing his wife, Titi, as “a great wife, wonderful mother, and great friend,” Atiku said “she loves and cares about this country.”
