by By Margaret Asikong —-MOI Office
Office of the Wife of the Governor.
The Wife of the Cross River State Governor, Lady Dr. (Mrs.) Linda Ayade has said that women have a right to vote and be voted for in elections, as they can serve on boards and hold the highest offices in the land, as well as contribute in the decision- making process that will ultimately affect the people, families and communities.
Dr. Ayade stated this recently at the Municipal Dome, Calabar Municipal Headquarters, during a symposium tagged New Voices Symposium, with the theme: “Leadership and Family Values in Women and Youth”, organized by the New Voices of the Lions Club International, District 404 A2.
In her Keynote address on the topic: “Women in Political Leadership”, Dr. Ayade who was represented by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Women Affairs, Survey. Dr. Gertrude Nanja Nja, said that women in Political leadership is a subject that has gained increasing interest in today’s world where women continue to be marginalized and left out of the political equation.
According to her, when her husband, Senator Ben Ayade became the Governor of CRS, she initiated two pet projects—The Mediatrix Development Foundation (MDF), with its focus on development and the Cross River Women Emancipation Initiative (CROWEI), in order to achieve political goals including women participation in politics. She disclosed that, MDF has won ongoing partnerships with several UN agencies including; United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations Embassy (UN Embassy), Larfarge, First Ladies Against Cancer, amongst other partners. She stated that “with all these partners we are able to carry out various impactful interventions in the areas of health, education and sustainable livelihoods, amongst the less privileges and vulnerable in our society”.
The Governor’s wife maintained that CROWEI was set up with the strategic objective of fighting for the political emancipation of women both in the urban and rural parts of CRS and has a simple leadership structure that boasts of membership in every ward of the 18 LGAs of the state, thereby making it easy to mobilize women in every community whenever there is a responsibility, as well as an opportunity for them, adding that women are making dramatic gains in electoral politics worldwide with some of them becoming Presidents and Prime Ministers of nations.
She lamented the situation where Nigeria as a country continues to record low participation of women in both elective and appointive positions after 23 years of uninterrupted democratic governance since 1999 till date, with the average of women’s political participation remaining at 6.7 percent in elective/ appointive positions, while citing an instance where out of 43 ministerial appointments by the Federal Government, only 7 are women and that currently there are only 7 women out of 109 senators and 22 women out of 360 House of Representatives members.
She said that CRS is changing the status quo by surpassing the recommended 35% affirmative action in both elective and appointive public service positions, with CROWEI being responsible for the emergence of many women as, Commissioners, Council Chairmen, Special Advisers, Director-Generals, Chairmen of Boards, Councilors, amongst others and that if a woman is not the state Governor in 2023, a woman should be the Deputy Governor.
Dr. Ayade lauded the efforts of Lions Club in carrying out extensive humanitarian services all over the world, focusing on areas that she is interested in and has made contributions in, such as; sight screening, donation of glasses to patients in need, cancer screening and provision of free drugs to patients, empowering the needy and less privileged in the communities, amongst others.
She expressed thanks to the Lions Club International for the honour done her in recognizing her for an award.
In her welcome remarks, the District Governor of Lions Club International, Lion Lynda Odu-Okpeseyi used the occasion to welcome all present, especially the wife of the Governor, while commending her for the good works she is doing in the state through her NGOs. According to her, Lions Club is a humanitarian service organization and enumerated some of their achievements in CRS to include; building a diabetic center in the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), eye theatre in General Hospital, Calabar, building an E-library in the state library, carrying out free eye screening, screened 5,000 Cross Riverians on diabetes. She said that their focus in year 2022 is on diabetes, while disclosing that they are currently building an ultra-modern diabetic center in Ogoja and appealed to CRS government to support the project which has reached roofing stage and will be commissioned in April.
Speaking on the topic “Women Empowerment through Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME), the Commissioner for Commerce, Barr, (Mrs.) RoseMary Archibong, said that to be a leader one must have capacity to solve the problems of others both financially and otherwise. According to her, MSME constitute the engine room for economic growth in the society and that they are beneficial to the economy for they create jobs. She admonished women to endeavor to make themselves permanent projects to their husbands and avoid losing their relevance, adding that they should be resilient and not give up on themselves due to the environment, while not neglecting the God factor as He is the multiplier and the one that gives good success.
Highlights at the event included; presentation of an Award of Excellence to Dr. Ayade for her exceptional leadership and being a role model to the women, decoration of the Governor’s wife and her representative as automatic members of the Lions Club International by the Area Director of Lions Club International, Lion Sam Etuk, group photographs, amongst others.
