The Centre for Law Enforcement Education in Nigeria (CLEEN) Foundation has called on traditional rulers and state governments to include women in traditional leadership structures and ensure women have equal rights to inheritance and property ownership.
Mr Nnamdi Odo, Senior Programme Officer with CLEEN Foundation, made the call at a three-day stakeholders’ workshop for various women’s groups, government representatives,s, anvil Society Organisations (CSOs) on Wednesday in Lafia, Nasarawa State.
He said excluding women from decision-making in palaces and denying them inheritance has continued to keep many women in poverty thereby escalating the insecurity situation in the country.
“Our culture must evolve. Women are stakeholders in our communities. They should be made traditional title holders, district and village heads, council members, and beneficiaries of family property like their male counterparts,” he said.
He highlighted that the concern was feedback received from the participants that they were not allowed to partake in determining the items to be presented for the marriage of their daughters.
In his opening remarks, Mr Peter Maduoma, Executive Director of CLEEN Foundation said that the three-day Women, Peace and Security (WPS) stakeholder workshop was organised to advance gender equality and women’s participation in governance, peace and security, justice, economic development and public decision-making.
Maduoma, represented by Ifeyinwa Akwiwu, Legal/Human Resource Officer, said the initiative was part of the Foundation’s project titled Strengthening a Right-Based Approach to Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) Framework and Advancing Women’s Peace and Security in Nigeria.
He explained that Nigeria has established a substantial policy and institutional architecture for advancing gender equality and women’s participation in governance, peace and security, justice, economic development and public decision-making.
“This includes the National Gender Policy, the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, the Child Rights Act, and various state-level gender, protection and social-development frameworks.
“The challenge remains the translation of policy commitments into institutional practice. Gender-responsive provisions may exist within laws, policies and strategic plans, yet their implementation is often constrained by weak institutional ownership, limited resources, fragmented coordination, inadequate gender-disaggregated data, insufficient accountability mechanisms and uneven capacity among state and non-state actors.
“These challenges are particularly significant in conflict-affected and fragile contexts, where insecurity, displacement, poverty, climate-related pressures and weakened institutional systems can disproportionately affect women and girls,” he added.
The Executive Director of the group explained that in Nasarawa State, the interaction between insecurity, social vulnerability, governance and development creates a compelling case for moving the gender agenda beyond normative commitments towards practical institutionalisation and measurable implementation.
“We also recognise that gender equality is closely linked to peace, security and justice. Gender considerations must therefore be integrated into broader governance and peace and security processes, with the voices and experiences of women and women-led organisations remaining central,” Maduoma added.
Also speaking, Mrs Laria Jacob-Tsaku, Director of Human Resources, Nasarawa State Ministry of Women Affairs said the government was committed to ensuring the implementation of the policy that guarantees more inclusion of women in governance and decision-making processes.
She explained that the Ministry of Women Affairs would take the lead towards ensuring that the rights of women and the girl-child are adequately protected.
She also appreciated Gov. Abdullahi Sule for always being women-friendly, appointing many women as Commissioners and assigning them to key portfolios and appointing other women to key positions in his administration.
“The present Chief Judge of the state, Head of Civil Service, and Vice Chancellor of Nasarawa State University Keffi are all women,” she said.
The Director however, appealed that more needed to be done to improve the representation of women especially in elective positions and traditional leadership to give them a sense of belonging.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that women Presidents of different tribal associations, religious bodies, CSOs, representatives of Nasarawa State ministries of Women Affairs, Justice among others attended the workshop. (NAN).
