From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Bola Tinubu has declared his commitment to empower women in his administration.
He stated this at the ninth Voice of Women Conference & Awards (VOW2025), yesterday in Abuja.
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Represented by the Minister of Women Affairs, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, President Tinubu focused on empowerment as a key government agenda.
“My administration stands resolute in empowering women as protectors of families, drivers of innovation and catalysts of the $1 trillion economy we are building together,” he said.
He saluted Nigerian women as the ever supportive and resilient backbone of the nation. He said: “I salute the 9th edition of the Voice of Women Conference, held at the dawn of Nigeria’s 65th independence anniversary, a reminder that the story of our nation is incomplete without the strength of its women.”
He emphasised the conference theme, asserting that women’s voices were “the heartbeat of our country; echoing, undaunted, unyielding and rising to shape a future of equity and progress under the Renewed Hope agenda.”
He highlighted his administration’s commitment to empower women, expressing hope that the conference “echo as a song of unity, pride and enduring hope for a more inclusive and prosperous Nigeria,” signalling the government’s resolve to leverage women’s potential in nation-building.
Echoing the President, Vice President Kashim Shettima affirmed that the theme, ‘Nigerian Women and the Power of Collective Action,’ was both timely and timeless, reiterating that women are the backbone of the nation’s resilience and the vanguard of its future. “Under the steadfast leadership of Mr. President, we remain committed to unlocking the full potential of Nigerian women as builders of families, leaders of enterprise and key drivers of our $1trillion economy and national renewal,” he stated.
Earlier, Minister of Women Affairs, Sulaiman-Ibrahim, praised the President’s Renewed Hope agenda for prioritising women’s empowerment and social development, highlighting the government initiatives, such as the Nigeria for Women Programme (NFWP) Scale-Up that has “directly reached over 500,000 women across six states, mobilizing more than ₦4 billion in savings through women affinity groups.
She also commended legislative leaders for championing the Reserved Seats Bill, calling their support “a continental and global statement that democracy without women is incomplete.”
In her keynote address that traced the historical resilience of Nigerian women, from the Aba Women’s Protest of 1929 to the Egba Women’s Revolt of the 1940s and the democratic struggles of the 1990s, she remarked: “Nigerian women have always risen in moments of challenge to shape the destiny of our nation. She asserted that the conference theme speaks to the reality that true gender equality cannot be achieved in isolation.
The minister underscored the critical need for collective efforts involving the government, the civil society, development partners, the private sector and women themselves.
She advocated strongly for the Reserved Seats Bill, saying, “It is not an act of benevolence; it is an act of justice and strategic necessity.”
She pointed out Nigeria’s low female political representation, noting that, “women occupy less than six percent of the seats in the National Assembly, far behind the African Union’s target of 50 percent and global averages.”
She concluded by announcing the support for Women Radio to train 10 female journalists.
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