Women will play vital roles in our government — APC women leader
WBy Abbas Jimoh & Muideen Olaniyi
hat do you think the election victory of General Buhari and the APC portend for Nigerian women, at least, politically?
Firstly, I want to thank Nigerian women and youths for their massive support, without which this victory for our party may not be realizable. But generally, Gen. Buhari’s victory portends a good omen and victory for Nigerians and democracy. At last, Nigerians would sing for joy that our votes count and would continue to count now. The APC victory is for the people; power has returned to the people and it is for the people. I hope we all use it well, it is a milestone.
The National Women Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Director of Women Mobilisation of the party’s Presidential campaign committee, Hajiya Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, in this interview, explained how the President-elect, retired Genenral Muhammadu Buhari, would manage the Office of the First Lady and what his victory portends for Nigerian women.
The APC women campaign train embarked on grassroots mobilisation, visited IDP camps and rural areas. Was that solely for the campaigns or this would be sustained as policy?
If you look at the APC manifesto, it talks about reaching out to the down-trodden and giving an enabling environment to all and not the make-belief or what was done for selected few. What happened during the campaign would be sustained. In the party we have the three Rs: the relieve, the recovery, and reform process. The relieve would be such that most of the populace mission would be recovered and the economic recovery processes would include the reviving of our ports and at our borders to give succour to the down-trodden.
Our constitution and manifesto are downtrodden-friendly. Under the agricultural scheme, there is provision for one million jobs within a year, and how do we do this? The agricultural scheme would be prioritised through softening the ground for micro-credit facilities and collateral issues with emphasis on women and youths to enable beneficiaries be developed enough to employ people on their own. The school feeding programme of one-meal-per-day would be another avenue to empower the women as it would be implemented across the country. The caterers who are basically women and youths would be employed, the cooks, the industrials that packages, those that would transport, among others, and who benefits the more? Women and youth. On the relief, we would restore the dignity of Nigerians and the family and this would be followed by the reforms. The recovery for our economy would also be given priority and has never been more vital.
Reliance from rent on oil has shattered production and encourages wastefulness. We shall broaden the horizon. The APC would bring about economic recovery by revamping the construction of infrastructures. The moment these are done, there would also be bilateral talks across board. We have the reform as without it all the recovery would amount to waste.
The APC is at variance with the PDP on the issue of First Lady’s office, especially when the President-elect has said there is no constitutional role for the office. How would this affect women in this incoming administration?
As we all saw on that day while receiving his certificate of return, our incoming First Lady was there. Our president-elect did not say there would not be role for women and the First Lady. What he said was concerning the incessant interferences, like we had and still have, must stop. We have the First Ladies’ interfering with the duties and functions of elected and appointed officials. This would not be tolerated. He (Buhari) is a principled man who goes by the rule, so any interference that is unconstitutional would not be acceptable, unless there is going to be constitutional amendment that would give constitutional roles to the office of the first lady.
The PDP has raised the bar on the participation of women in politics and governance, how would it be in the incoming APC government?
It depends on what is meant by raising the bar. Is it on white elephant sort of like actualizing political issues? If you check the PDP, have you checked the states and other sectors? Did you find women there? In APC, women will be accommodated reasonably and across the sector, but this would be on notes of competence and not on mediocrity, which would even lead to collapse of the system.
You can see that in the APC we have been doing this; we gave the first woman the governorship ticket in this country. We have lifted the bar because we did not only believe in just appointing but the person must be willing and capable, she should be allowed to test the waters, like Senator Aisha Alhassan who won her primaries and you can see today also after the last Saturday’s election, we have a senator emerged in Adamawa, we have a female Rep member from Gombe, we have Khadijah Bukar Abbas from Yobe, we have two women Reps from Kwara and there are many more to come. But then Rome was not built in a day. We will encourage many women to be cardcarrying members of the party. This is how we can produce many women.
Are the women being carried along in the economic policies of the APC?
We are fully involved. Within the first year, the incoming APC administration will employ about 740,000 people, which is about 20,000 per state, including the FCT. The young and fresh graduates immediately get employed into an empowerment scheme. We would provide at least one million agricultural jobs. We are calling this ‘get ready for the job’, and the unemployed graduates would also get stipends for a year under a special scheme called ‘work readiness capacity.’ Females would be massively encouraged; they are going to benefit from the marching grant, with emphasis on women and youth employment.
(Cuts in). With the dwindling oil prices, naira value and other variables. How would the APC achieve these objectives?
The moment you begin to cut down on importation, we’ll improve the naira value and other things would follow.