The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd), says he will ensure the safety of Nigerian girls and women if he is elected as the next president of the country.
Buhari added that women and girls had become endangered species in the wake of the nation’s insecurity.
The APC presidential candidate spoke at ‘Town Hall Meeting with Professional Women’ in Lagos on Thursday.
He said, “My administration will have zero tolerance for violence against women and girls. We will provide women with greater legal protection from all forms of violence and sexual harassment.”
Buhari, who was flanked by a national leader of the APC, Bola Tinubu; Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola; his Rivers State counterpart, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi; and a former governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Segun Oni, among others, observed that 20 years after the Beijing women conference, the decisions reached had not been implemented in Nigeria.
He said, “There is still discrimination against women in public institutions and in the private sphere.
“Women still lack the same freedom as men, particularly in the fields of education, economic empowerment and political participation.
“Nigeria still has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, and there are now alarming rates of violence against women and girls. Due to the activities of agents of Boko Haram, we have seen hundreds of our daughters kidnapped, killed and displaced.”
“I am on a mission to restore Nigeria’s fading glory and reposition our great nation on the path to greatness. I am aware that this will not be possible without addressing the needs and concerns of those who constitute half of the population of the country – the women.”
Buhari said his administration would not empower only a token number of women, adding that it would reach as many of them as possible.
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