All waited in vain for the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, as she was conspicuously absent from the 4th Anniversary of Nairobi Summit Commemoration in Nigeria held Tuesday at the Women Development Centre.
She was supposed to give a ‘Special Message’ at the 4th anniversary of the Nairobi Summit on ICPD with the theme: ‘Sexual and Reproductive Justice Cannot Wait: All Rights, Wome , Girls & Young People, Act Now’, slated for 11:15am; and even after about 10 minutes granted to enable her meet up, she was nowhere to be found, neither did she send a representative. Representatives from the Federal Ministry of Health; Ministry of Youth and Sports; MDAs, International Federation of Women Lawyers, FIDA, and many more were present.
The disappointed participants later went ahead with the activities after the Director General of the National Centre for Women Development, Hon (Mrs) Asabe Vulita gave her welcome remarks at the put together by the National Population Commission, NPC in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA.
Chairman, NPC, Nasir Isa Kwarra was delighted to see all the stakeholders and partners at the event and expressed his gratitude to each and every-one of them for keeping the faith to ensure Nigeria convenes the anniversary annually, to reflect on the Commission’s collective efforts to accelerate endeavors to realize commitments endorsed at Nairobi in 2019.
He said: “Convening the anniversary, reminds us to hasten fulfilling promises made to protect and promote the rights and wellbeing of women and girls in Cairo in 1994 which was reasserted in Nairobi, 25 years after. The event is a rallying point for stocks-taking and for energizing to close gaps and devise innovative ideas that will bring about the change we desire and for which our women, girls and young people deserve.
“This year’s theme: “Sexual and Reproductive Justice Cannot Wait: All Rights, Women/Girls/Young People, Act Now” – emerged from documented experiences noted during the High-Level Commission (HLC) on the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25 (New York, 22 September 2023), and lays the contextual content for the convening the 57th Sessions of the United Nations Commission for Population and Development (CPD), and heralds the marking of the thirtieth anniversary of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), in 2024.
‘Addressing prevailing Sexual and reproductive injustice is urgent, should be prioritized and can only be realized when women, girls and young people in Nigeria have access to quality and timely information and counselling that shapes and empower them to live healthy, productive and fulfilled lives as well as practice a regime of responsible reproductive lives/patterns.”