UNITED States Consul General in Nigeria, Mr. Brian Browne, and other top American diplomats, yesterday, boycotted the opening ceremony of a three-day capacity building workshop in Warri, Delta State, designed to mainstream women leaders from Rivers, Edo, Bayelsa and Delta States into the political process in the Niger Delta because of the security situation in the troubled region.
Funding for the engaging workshop came ironically from the Human Rights and Democracy Development Fund of the US Embassy. Founder/Regional Director of the Niger Delta Professionals for Development (NIDPRODEV), organiser of the workshop, Mr. Joel Bisina, confirmed the development in his welcome address on the occasion.
His words: �In closing, I want to thank the US Embassy in Nigeria that provided the funding for the workshop. It was the desire of the US Consul General, Brian Browne, and other top diplomats to be with us at this opening but recent events that border on security in the Niger Delta have made it impossible for them to be with us�.
There was, however, no cause for alarm at the venue of the workshop in Effurun, Delta State, yesterday, as everything went on peacefully at the venue of the workshop.
Mr. Bisina stated in his address that: �It is becoming a globally acknowledged fact that reduction in corruption in any country is directly proportional to an increase in women participation in decision making and access to public office, as women are less likely to be as corrupt as our men folks�, adding that the stabilizing effort of the first female African President of Liberia, Mrs. Ellen Johnson �Sirleaf, is a case in point.
He said that the group was hoping that after the brain-storming session, the women would come up with a bill to be presented to the various Houses of Assembly in the states they represented to give legal teeth to the implementation of the affirmative action, which says 30 per cent of public office should be reserved for women.
The NIDPRODEV director said that some male politicians opposed the decision of the group to hold the capacity-building workshop for women leaders on the grounds that the problem in the Niger-Delta was not a problem of women in participation, but a question of providing jobs for the vast unemployed youths in the region. While he agreed with them unemployment is a problem in the region, he said �in order to solve the many problems facing us, it is essential that women be empowered to step out of the kitchen, which is the primary place society has consigned for women�s talent and assets�.
Former Senate Chief Whip, Senator (Mrs.) Stella Omu who delivered a keynote address at the opening ceremony said that women have the wherewithal to cause the desired change in the Niger-Delta and Nigeria as a whole, and urged them to use their natural predisposition to explore all opportunities open to them now by government and the political parties.
She asked women to participate actively in politics in order to effect positive changes in the region, adding that they needed to join political parties so as to participate in party nomination and use their position to push credible women candidates through primaries and election.
Dr (Mrs.) Nosa Aladesolu who presided at the opening ceremony said her expectation at the end of the workshop was that the women would come out with a blueprint that would enable the womenfolk occupy not less than 30 per cent of all the political offices, not only in the Niger-Delta but in the country in 2007, saying that the country would not remain the same if a woman is voted to steer the ship of the country.