The Director-General, National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), Abubakar Sulaiman, has called for amendments to legislation bordering on security to allow more women’s participation in security management in Nigeria.
Mr Sulaiman, a professor, who made the call on Thursday in Abuja at a news conference, said there was a need for a deliberate move to increase women’s involvement in the country’s security sector.
He decried the low involvement of women in the security architecture of the country, saying the abilities of women were untapped in the fight against insecurity ranging from the violent ones like terrorism, banditry, kidnapping to civil disturbances, among others.
According to Mr Sulaiman, the institute was working with UN Women to sensitise the National Assembly and relevant security agencies on the need to change the narrative.
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The DG lamented the attitude of the 9th National Assembly which rejected most of the gender-related bills meant to drive gender inclusivity in the governance structure of the country.
Mr Sulaiman expressed the hope that the current national assembly under the leadership of Godswill Akpabio has promised to give adequate attention to all bills and policies meant to promote gender inclusion.
“Indeed, Nigeria’s security sector institutions are major actors not only in the prevention and response to security issues in Nigeria but also to strategic conflict resolution and peace building initiatives.
“While these security sector institutions strive to achieve their mandates over the years, huge gender gaps are visible in their policies and operational procedures at all levels, as well as their enabling legislations.
“Yet, ensuring women’s meaningful representation in the security sector is critical to building an inclusive, responsive, and accountable security sector that reflects diversity of the community it serves and better respond to their needs.
“This has been increasingly identified as a key strategy and supported by global normative frameworks, including the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 (2000), among other international instruments.
“As a result of this, there is need to review the security sector institution’s legislation to become more gender-responsive
“It is against this backdrop that I am pleased to inform you all that NILDS, with the support of the UN Women is implementing the Enhancing Gender Responsive Security Operations and Community Dialogue Project II,” he said.
Mr Sulaiman said that the collaborative project aimed to work with the National Assembly and identified security sector institutions on the need to make their laws more gender-responsive.
He said the project also sought to strengthen gender-responsive security sector policy reforms and implementation of gender policies adopted by target security institutions.
The UN Women Country Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Beatrice Eyong, congratulated NILDS on the successful review of some security laws in the country.
She said the Armed Forces Act, Nigeria Police Act and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps Act had been reviewed from a gender perspective, with support from UN Women.
She said the need to present the bills for the amendment of the Acts by the 10th National Assembly could not be over emphasised.
Ms Eyong, represented by the Programmes Manager, Peter Macha, said the positive response from some members of the national assembly on the agenda was encouraging.
“I, therefore, call on all the legislators and other stakeholders to support the amendment of these security laws to further enhance a gender-sensitive environment, for maximum efficiency and effectiveness in the security sector institutions and the society at large.
“These progressive actions undoubtedly align with provisions of Nigeria’s National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, National Gender Policy and several other policy and legal frameworks,” he said.
(NAN)
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