The 56-member committee inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja. Photo: Emmanuel Kutara/ Radio Nigeria
A 56-member High-level Advisory committee (H-LAC) on women’s economic empowerment has been inaugurated.
H-LAC aims at supporting Nigerian women and girls in economic development.
According to a member of the committee, Dr Judith-Ann Walker, the H-LAC is significant and important, especially in the context of recent failed attempts to pass gender-focused laws to redress economic, political and social imbalances against women and girls in the country.
Dr Walker said the H-LAC, inaugurated on the wings of the 2023 General Elections by President Buhari, under the auspices of the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, was non-political, and expected to cross over into the next administration.
Dr Walker, who is also the Executive Director of the Development Research and Projects Center (DRPC) and Coordinator, Partnership for Advancing Women in Economic Development (PAWED), said the committee was set up to serve as a veritable bridge between administrations on key development issues affecting women and girls.
According to her, the H-LAC highlights issues, such as girl-child education, technical and life skills as contained in the Adolescent Girls Initiatives for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE project); and women’s economic empowerment, as contained in Nigeria for Women Scale-up programme.
Dr Walker added that the development research and projects centre (dRPC) will provide technical expertise to H-LAC on issues of inclusive and accountable implementation of WEE programs at national and sub-national levels.
Reporting by Emmanuel Kutara; Editing by Abdullahi Lamino and Tony Okerafor