The Committee of Wives of Lagos State Officials (COWLSO) on Thursday urged the Federal and state governments to see the issue of maternal mortality as a national emergency that must be seriously addressed with a view to considerably bringing down the high figures.
The committee, in a communique issued by Olubukonla Nwonah, Assistant Director, Public Affairs Office of Lagos State First Lady, at the end of its annual National Women Conference, 19th in the series, held from October 22 to 24, 2019, in Lagos, also called on government at all levels to empower women, saying there was a strong need to invest effectively in maximising the capacity of women.
According to COWLSO, “Maternal mortality is abysmally high; the death of a woman is more grievous than the death of a man. Maternal mortality is taken for granted in Nigeria and this must be seen as a national emergency.
“An empowered and educated woman would raise empowered children, as a nation we need to invest effectively in maximising the capacity of women.
“All stakeholders – families, schools, religious bodies, communities and government must, therefore, play active roles in nurturing the child to be upright, hardworking, result-oriented, focused, organised and have the fear of God. Moulding a child is a collective responsibility. Every child should have access to quality education.”
The COWLSO, while noting that there are limitless opportunities in entrepreneurship, urged the people to see it as a vital way out of financial difficulties, just as the committee admonished residents to imbibe voluntary compliance to laws, and well-being.
“Government at all levels must continue to partner with the private sector to develop and implement strategies that will showcase the nation’s potential in entertainment and tourism to the world.
“Every society must seek to evolve its own legal instrument through the culture of voluntary compliance to the laws of waste and traffic management.
“Also, well-being is a satisfactory condition of existence and wellness is more than being free from illness but a dynamic process of change and growth,” the committee said, while equally urging women to strive to be a total woman.
“A total woman is a profitable daughter, an extra ordinary woman, a celebrated mother and award-winning woman,” it added.
Dr. Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, COWLSO Chairman and First Lady of Lagos State, in her opening remarks, said it was indeed gratifying that the conference had been positively impactful, and urged participants to make good use of the lessons learnt.
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“It has been three days of mind shifting trainings and brainstorming on how to equip women and position them to key into the emerging opportunities in our dear state. Several papers have been presented on the main theme which centres on unlearning, learning and relearning, as well as other topics.
“I can confidently say that we have all benefited tremendously from the facilitators who have mounted this stage to address us. For me, the target is that we must all go back to our respective offices, homes and business areas to put what we have learned into practice,” she said.
Also speaking, Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, commended the COWLSO executives and members for putting a brilliantly impactful conference together, and urged women to be the ambassadors of his administration.
The governor, who was represented at the closing ceremony by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Folashade Jaji, said: “I want to believe that we have all unlearnt; we have learned and we are going to relearn because learning is a life-long thing. Our take away is that after this conference, we owe a lot to this administration because we are all part of this administration.
“We are all going to be the ambassadors of what the government is doing; we are going to be the role models for those things they have asked us to do and I hope that we won’t allow it to just end here; we are going to be the ambassadors of this administration so that we can all together achieve the greater Lagos of our dear governor.”
On his part, the governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule, congratulated COWLSO for the success of the conference, urging women to ensure that the knowledge and skill-sets acquired at the conference are put to good use.
Several mouthwatering prizes, including two houses, cars, return tickets to London, Dubai and Ghana, cash rewards, deep freezers, cooking gas, television, washing machines, exquisite beds, among others, were won by some of the participants at the conference, while A-list artistes, including Tope Alabi, Teni the Entertainer, and others, performed at the Gala Night of the conference.
Awards were also presented to deserving women including Senior Pastor of DayStar Christian Centre, Pastor Nike Adeyemi; wife of Deputy General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor (Mrs) Siju Iluyomade; and President of Elishama Ideh Ministry and former Presidential aspirant, Elishama Ideh, among others.
