‘Nigerian girls need role models in politics’ — Catriona Laing calls for passage of gender bills

Catriona Laing, British high commissioner to Nigeria, says young Nigerian girls need female role models in politics.

Laing said this on Tuesday in Lagos at the graduation ceremony of the first cohort of DigiGirls in Nigeria, a digital skills empowerment programme organised by Cybersafe Foundation and funded by the UK government’s digital access programme.

She said Nigerian women must have enough role models in leadership roles in order to overcome challenges and break barriers confronting them.

She said owing to the recent rejection of gender bills by the Nigerian parliament, women will remain under-represented in key sectors.

“Sadly we saw in the constitutional amendment, some very good proposals to improve the life of women in places and especially in politics, but they were rejected by men,” Laing said.

“So until we break these barriers and enable women to take up leadership positions, there won’t be enough role models for young girls to aspire and see that they too can break the barriers.”

Reflecting on International Women’ Day (IWD), the UK high commissioner said women and girls are disproportionately impacted by climate change, natural disasters and conflict because they exacerbate existing inequality and barriers in accessing services and support.

To address these problems, she said the UK will take proactive action to empower women and girls across Nigeria and around the world.

“And the new announcement from our Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, yesterday to launch a £20 million global partnership with businesses to improve girls’ access to education and employment in developing countries like Nigeria is a strong example of the UK’s undoubted commitment to improving girls’ access to education overall so they can #breakthebias and step into fields like the digital sector,” she added.

In her remarks, Confidence Staveley, founder of Cybersafe Foundation, said the initiative was created to improve gender diversity in the tech industry.

She said the foundation will continue to share opportunities with the graduates and ensure that they grow with the skills they have learnt.

“They are getting internship opportunities too which will set them to begin their careers in technology,” Staveley added.

“We currently have more opportunities for these women than we have women that are trained for and open to taking them.”

TheCable had reported how federal lawmakers voted against bills that were in favour of women, including a bill to create special seats for women in the national and state houses of assembly.

But yesterday, the house of representatives rescinded its decision on the three bills.