Scrap Women Affairs Ministry, Ex-NDLEA DG, HURIWA Urge FG

A former Director-General of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Dr. Lanre Ipinmisho, and the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) have called on the federal government to scrap the Ministry of Women Affairs and instead, establish the Ministry of Family and Children Affairs.

The call was made yesterday at the 2019 HURIWA annual lecture in Abuja with the theme: ‘Engendering Good Governance and Respect for Human Rights’.

They argued that the call became necessary following the upsurge in sexual abuse, especially against children, in Nigeria.

Ipinmisho, who was represented at the event by Mohammed Jibril from the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru in Jos, Plateau State, said what Nigerians should be fighting for is good democratic governance rather than good governance.

He explained that policies under good governance benefit some segment of the society, while policies under good democratic governance take all strata of the society into consideration.

Ipinmisho added: "Policies are made for you; polices are made to benefit every strata of the society. You are just giving us the example of Europe that has institutions that benefit even those that are single mothers.

"You said you want to advise the government to scrap the Ministry of Women Affairs and create Ministry of Family and Children Affairs, and we are totally with you on this. We keep arguing this in the office why do we need the Ministry of Women Affairs while we have these Almajiri children roaming the streets. We have children in motherless babies’ home with no structure to take care of them.

"That's why we say good governance is not good enough but good democratic governance will tell you that those children in the motherless babies’ home should be taken care of."

The ex NDLEA DG stated that in order to ensure that government delivers good democratic governance, Nigerians must hold their leaders accountable, as he urged the federal government to establish a commission that would monitor budget implementation.