Last week, the Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, was a guest at the 59th edition of the ministerial media briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. She spoke about women participation in politics and other sundry issues. Excerpts:
What are you doing to increase the number of female candidates running for office while also ensuring that they are successful in getting elected to the National Assembly?
You will agree with me that myself, the First Lady and the wife of the Vice President, led a powerful delegation on an advocacy visit to the National Assembly on the five bills. We visited the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Deputy Speaker and the Deputy Senate president and decorated them in order for them to support issues affecting women in the National Assembly. But we are yet to get there. And that was why the Nigerian women, civil society organisations mounted pressure for two weeks in front of the National Assembly. But all hope is not lost, we are still lobbying and we have been assured that they will reconsider the remaining three bills by the grace of God.
As far as the poor rate of women’s participation in politics, it is heartbreaking. It is not that we don’t have qualified women, we have very qualified, resilient Nigerian women in politics. But the society is yet to support and encourage women and women you know, there’s a lot of violence in politics. Women can never engage in thuggery because we’re mothers. All the elections that have been conducted, women will never engage in using youths as thugs for their campaigns because we are mothers. We will not encourage the youths to misbehave or snatch ballot boxes, no. It is the men that are doing that. These are facts.
Like I said, the world is now taking the face of a woman and the world over is addressing gender balance. Without having more women at the decision table, we can never get it right. But once we have women, the difference will be clear because the men cannot know it all. They can’t remember everything and that was why the woman was created by God, so ignoring women is going against the will of God.
Your ministry has been criticized for not doing enough to support Leah Sharibu, who was kidnapped. You didn’t support a female presidential candidate who ran on the APC platform, either. The women folk did not stand up to support you even after you were forced out of the race. Why aren’t women able to use that power to support female candidates or aspirants when they run for office?
I don’t know why men want to always amplify this issue. Don’t men work against men? I must tell you, I will take myself as an example, during my campaign, women in the state came out full blast. You can go to Plateau State and confirm, my campaign trail was made up of men and women and many women can testify to that. It depends on how you relate with the women. In the case before us, the only female governorship candidate in Adamawa State, Aisha Binani, women are fully behind her. The ministry, women organisations, women in politics are fully behind her and she has won at the Appeal Court.
I knew that we would make it. We will move to the streets and all I can say is watch what will happen in Adamawa. We will lead the campaign. Adamawa women are already fully mobilised. They had said that if she’s not given her mandate, they will not come out to contest or vote in any election.
Nigerian women are solidly behind her. A day before the judgement, we held a vigil, we prayed and fasted on this matter and God answered our prayers. Because, this is a test case, it is not that we don’t have capable women. They did it for me in 2011, they did it for late Mama Taraba and I vowed and said under my stewardship, Lord, wipe my tears and God answered my prayers.
This is a success story to Buhari’s administration. President Buhari will be the first president to inaugurate a woman as a female governor by the grace of God. Senator Aisha Binani’s case is an election that is already won because, Adamawa people have spoken. The President of the National Council of Women Society is from Adamawa, we are monitoring what is happening. I am happy. This is good news for Nigerian women. I am from Plateau. I wish I could vote in Adamawa, I would have moved to Adamawa to vote for her. But it is not just women of Adamawa, the men, youths are crying for a change and they will see by the time Binani gets into office, the difference will be clear. Whoever told you women don’t like one another, it is not true. I also celebrated Senator Stella Oduah for the Federal High Court ruling in Abuja for dismissing the suit filed against her, seeking an order invalidating her nomination as a Senatorial Candidate for the People’s Democratic Party in Anambra State.
I have a dream that one day, a woman will be the president of Nigeria, just like the dream that Martin Luther Jr had for America and a black man became the President. That day is coming; if it is not in our generation, our children will live to see it. More female governors are coming because by the time Binani sets the pace, other states will cry out to have more women governors. It is a matter of time, we will get there.
“As far as the poor rate of women’s participation in politics, it is heartbreaking. It is not that we don’t have qualified women, we have very qualified, resilient Nigerian women in politics. But society is yet to support and encourage women and women you know, there’s a lot of violence in politics”
There is a widespread misconception that highly educated women are incapable of domestication. Because of this, fathers in rural areas in the North are reluctant to send their kids to continue their education. How do you reassure this class of people that highly educated women can also be domesticated?
I don’t think this is a true statement. Let’s take an example from the North. I was married for 42 years. I never broke my marriage. Instead after God, it was my husband and my family that stood by me to make sure that I got to where I am in the political scene. My husband groomed me in politics, supported me all through. The Aisha Binani case that has been won today, is another case in point, her husband stood by her and supported her all through. The former Minister of Education, Ruqayyah Ahmed Rufa’i, is educated and is a professor in the core North of Jigawa State. Till date, her marriage has not broken, she is happily married and supported by her husband. If I start mentioning names, the list is endless. The international president of female doctors in the world is a Nigerian; she is happily married. The day I brought her to present to Mr. President, her husband was there, her mother-in-law was there. What are we talking about? Women are successfully married. The president of the National Council for Women Society, which is the highest position a woman can attain as far as many organisations are concerned. She’s happily married and supported by her husband. She is from the core North, also from Taraba. The brand new chairman of Niger Delta Development Commission is happily married. I remembered when she turned 60. When I was there, her husband fully supported her. She is a teacher and more. The former president of the Court of Appeal is a woman and her husband supports her till today. That’s the highest position a woman can attain in the justice system. Justice Mary Odili, Justice Nyako and all the female justices in the Supreme Court are happily married. The list is endless. It’s just culture or individual mentality. In the North, almost all the wives of our governors are happily married, highly educated.
We want to commend your efforts in seeking justice for the last gospel artist, Osinachi Nwachukwu. But there is a recent case, Bimbo Ogbonna, who died as a result of domestic violence. We understand her family has written to you to ask for your intervention. We will like to know if you are taking it up.
On the victim of gender based violence, Bimbo Ogbonnaya, we are yet to receive any report from the family. And I want you to understand that the Ministry of Women Affairs does not just handle all the cases in Nigeria; we operate with state commissioners for women affairs and local governments. And in any case, I am always on the phone when I get a report from Lagos, Abia, we reach out immediately to the commissioners and monitor and ensure that action is taken. So, it is not the minister of women affairs that will move into state and handle the case. That’s why we are a federation. We work hand in hand with them. If it happens in Abuja, like in the case of Osinachi, immediately it happened I reached out, I went to the house. I spent four hours with the children, one-on-one, and they revealed everything. The husband was not arrested until the following day. Immediately I heard that he was at home, I called the brother and said, if you don’t get that man arrested, I will not get to the house. So, he was moved to the police station and detained. Then I went there to see the children. And I’ve been following it up. We ensured that a few days after she died, we were told that the rent expired. And her mother and her twin sister live in Enugu. We supported them, we wrote to the Inspector General of Police to ensure that he followed up to ensure justice is done. And he did that. He summoned those investigating the case and gave them an order. We have been following the case.
For the children, the twin sister lives in Enugu and she wanted to move them back there. The ministry facilitated and gave them money to move down to Enugu. For you to understand that we work with the states, I wrote a letter to the governor of Enugu, a letter to the commissioner and a letter to the First Lady of Enugu. They reside in Enugu, their mother is old and where she is living, they cannot afford to accommodate all of them. We supported them with the money and called on well-meaning Nigerians to support them. But we handed them over to the state government and we are monitoring.
We also investigated and found that they come from Abia State but live in Enugu. I also wrote a letter to the governor of Abia narrating what has happened to his daughter, and the First Lady of Abia and also the commissioner. So, these three lines of action were taken to the two states and I’m just giving you an example of cases that happened within my domain. With so many cases of rape, incest happening, we also reach out. And that is why my worry now is the justice system to fast track so many of the cases that are still pending; what they call awaiting trial.
What magic did you do to get the 34 of the 36 states to domesticate the Child’s Rights Act?
There is no magic. It’s community engagement. After paying a courtesy call to the governors, we reached out and appealed to them. The case is before the state houses of assembly because they are the ones that will pass the law before the governor signs. I reached out to the speakers. In fact, I decorated the chairman of the Speaker’s Conference, who is the speaker from Bauchi. I went to Bauchi, I went to the House of Assembly and appealed to them. So we go to the traditional rulers, community leaders, religious leaders, state assemblies, and the wives of governors who are also doing very well.
They have formed a coalition of concerned First Ladies Against Gender Based Violence. So, at the national level, Mr. President has shown full commitment, our First Lady has shown full commitment, the 36 states First Ladies under the chairmanship of the former First Lady of Ekiti, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, while the Secretary is the First Lady of Kwara state. Now that they have finished their tenure, they’ve handed over to the Acting chairman of the governors’ forum, the Governor of Sokoto State, and his wife is doing very well. She has already arranged a meeting for the ministry and women to interact with the First Ladies within the 16 days of activism to address gender based violence.
The biggest challenge you have in the case of violence against women or domestic violence is tied to culture. When CSOs, the police, want to take up cases of domestic violence involving husband and wife legally, the society will say no, this is a domestic issue and we are going to settle it domestically. What have you done to engage the traditional institutions?
We take our advocacy to religious leaders, traditional rulers, and most of these issues are more prevalent in the North. The Sultan of Sokoto, I must commend him, has a foundation that is addressing this issue. The foundation organises conferences every year. The third one was this year. And we always work hand in hand with him, he invites the ministry and I am always in attendance; all traditional rulers across the 19 states in the North are always there. In the South, it is the same thing. The traditional rulers are carried along, we take advocacy right to the community level, religious level, and traditional level. But I must say that it is unacceptable for us to regard or address gender based violence as a family issue that should be settled within the family. It is unacceptable, because a lot of women die in the process. And women are not beasts of burden that should be beaten, treated anyhow by a man. And the next thing is for them to ask her to forgive you and she goes back. And the same thing happens. That’s why we give more attention to the education of the girl child.
Why is the number of reported cases of GBV low or do you think it is simply because of stigmatization or because there is just one toll free line?
Again, the advocacy is to ensure that people come out and speak. Some refuse to come out and speak because of stigmatization. But our advocacy is to ensure that people speak out; you don’t die in silence, speak out. Seek for help.
With only one toll free line?
I have told you that it is not just the ministry that has a toll free line. Civil society organisations also have toll free lines. NAPTIP has a toll line. So, it’s not a one man show, gender based violence is not just an issue for the ministry of women affairs alone. It is an issue for the entire society to come out and say no to it. Mr. President has joined us at the town hall meeting, the first time a head of state has joined in a town hall meeting. He’s not a staff of the Ministry of Women Affairs, but he’s the leader that has shown political will. So, it is something that every Nigerian, both men and women must key in; we must say no to gender based violence in order to have a healthy society. We are appealing to you, the press, to be advocates. Every well-meaning Nigerian should join and be a gender champion, and fight all forms of violence against women. Women are your mothers, women are your wives, women are your daughters, women are everywhere. Can you close your eyes and imagine a world without a woman? Can you imagine a home without a woman? So, I am appealing for this advocacy to be all Nigerians. We must change the narrative. We must change our mindset.
The Ministry of Women Affairs is just a mother ministry. We have women in MDAs and that was why, Mr. President last year, during this presentation of the budget, for the first time, appealed that all the MDAs must streamline gender. That is very significant.
“Some refuse to come out and speak because of stigmatization. But our advocacy is to ensure that people speak out; you don’t die in silence, speak out. Seek for help”
The Safe Space Initiative you talked about is very laudable because a lot of gender-based victims are in need of safe shelters like that. How many states have so far keyed into the initiative?
Many states have responded to that, because I’ve held meetings with some governors; we have sent out letters to governors and their wives to ensure that they create safe space shelters. More than 23 states have put in place safe spaces. Some local governments are even working on having safe spaces because this gender based violence is even more in the rural areas. So, wives of local government chairmen are also engaged in this advocacy. We are just telling all Nigerians that all hands must be on deck to have a healthier society where no one is left behind, a society where violence is completely eliminated. During these 16 days activism, we are going to paint the country orange and declare all forms of violence against women as an issue that everyone must be involved. Orange, the world is to give hope to victims of gender based violence because if you are raped, or you are a victim of any form of gender based violence, you can never be the same. You can imagine a daughter being raped by her father, or a daughter being raped by her uncle, or a staff, some drivers, while taking children to school branch somewhere and rape the children. And that’s why we educate mothers that you don’t leave your children to male drivers alone. It’s not safe. Some of them turn back and do something else.
In November 2021, you said only 0.51 percent of SGBV perpetrators were convicted. What is the challenge and has there been any progress?
Again, this is the justice system. I’ve told you, the Attorney General and Minister for Justice is the chairman of the inter-ministerial committee, and he is reaching out. And we are hoping and trusting God that the justice system will improve by acting fast and ensuring that all pending cases are treated with dispatch. And that’s why during the 16 days of activism, we always take a walk to the office of chief judge of the Federation, Inspector General of the police and agencies to ensure that justice is done and promptly too.
What efforts are in place by your ministry to rehabilitate victims of gender based violence?
After keeping them in safe homes, we train them either in tailoring or any of these fields of trade. At the end, they are examined by psychotherapists, and doctors. By the time they are ready to go back, we give them a starter pack to start their business. The same goes for state and local government level.
