To the ladies of Lagos: Your braveness has already rewritten historical past. Now, personal your energy. Run for workplace. Demand boardroom seats. Launch that enterprise. A really progressive authorities should again you with the vital sources you want, from micro loans focusing on feminine entrepreneurs to outlined quotas that improve inclusion.
As we mark Worldwide Girls’s Day 2025, I’m reminded of the highly effective phrases of former UN Secretary-Common Ban Ki-moon: “As girls thrive, so will all of us.” These phrases, spoken in March 2015 on the opening of the fifty-ninth session of the Fee on the Standing of Girls in New York, stay as related as ever.
In our pricey Lagos State, a metropolis beating with ambition and variety, this fact resonates deeply. At this time, I have a good time the braveness, resilience, and indomitable spirit of Lagos girls who form our communities, drive our economic system, and educate us what it really means to steer.
The Braveness That Defines Us
Two years in the past, through the 2023 elections, many witnessed a second that redefined bravery. In Surulere, Jennifer Efidi, decided to train her democratic proper, was attacked by hoodlums trying to suppress voters. Stabbed and bleeding, she refused to depart till she solid her vote – an act of sheer defiance in opposition to violence and intimidation.
She will not be alone on this outstanding depiction of tenacity. Throughout our state, girls like her rise day by day in opposition to systemic limitations, financial inequities, and cultural biases to assert their house in society. This similar resilience is mirrored in girls leaders throughout our state, together with our Labour Celebration Lagos Chairman, Dayo Ekong, whose dedication to political mobilisation underscores the facility of ladies in governance.
My heritage taught me that greatness lies in inclusion. Lagos thrives when all voices flourish. Whether or not you’re a Badagry fish dealer, a Kogi-born tech innovator in Yaba, or a younger lady in Ikorodu dreaming of politics, that is your Lagos.
Past Rhetoric: Coverage Options Rooted in Actuality
Girls’s empowerment should transcend phrases – it calls for motion. In 2023, I pledged to prioritise girls’s inclusion in governance and financial programs. As we work towards constructing a Lagos that actually belongs to all, I urge you to hitch fingers in dismantling limitations to girls’s financial participation and total well-being.
Article Web page with Monetary Assist Promotion
In a 2022 interview with a number one nationwide newspaper, I highlighted the plight of divorced girls left destitute by archaic legal guidelines. I additionally argued in favor of a care economic system the place girls should not held again or left behind because of the burden of kid care. I subsequently proposed a tax incentive for company organisations who present crèches and different help system to maintain girls within the office and guarantee they aren’t left behind by their male counterparts. The 2025 IWD is one other platform to reiterate that no lady ought to begin afresh with nothing after years of contributing to a family. A caring authorities should be sure that the fitting insurance policies are carried out to make governance extra humane.
A Name to Motion: Personal Your Energy
To the ladies of Lagos: Your braveness has already rewritten historical past. Now, personal your energy. Run for workplace. Demand boardroom seats. Launch that enterprise. A really progressive authorities should again you with the vital sources you want, from micro loans focusing on feminine entrepreneurs to outlined quotas that improve inclusion.
My heritage taught me that greatness lies in inclusion. Lagos thrives when all voices flourish. Whether or not you’re a Badagry fish dealer, a Kogi-born tech innovator in Yaba, or a younger lady in Ikorodu dreaming of politics, that is your Lagos.
This Worldwide Girls’s Day, let’s do greater than have a good time. Let’s take motion to make fairness a lived actuality, not only a slogan.
Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour is a Nigerian architect, entrepreneur and politician.
Assist PREMIUM TIMES’ journalism of integrity and credibility
At Premium Occasions, we firmly imagine within the significance of high-quality journalism. Recognizing that not everybody can afford expensive information subscriptions, we’re devoted to delivering meticulously researched, fact-checked information that continues to be freely accessible to all.
Whether or not you flip to Premium Occasions for day by day updates, in-depth investigations into urgent nationwide points, or entertaining trending tales, we worth your readership.
It’s important to acknowledge that information manufacturing incurs bills, and we take satisfaction in by no means inserting our tales behind a prohibitive paywall.
Would you take into account supporting us with a modest contribution on a month-to-month foundation to assist keep our dedication to free, accessible information?
Make Contribution
TEXT AD: Name Willie – +2348098788999
