Nigeria Elects First Female Speaker! - Nigerian Village Square

Jun

2007

By Paul Adujie

I write to congratulate Nigeria's National Assembly and Nigeria, on the emergence of the first female speaker of Nigeria's national assembly! This is coming on the heels of, President Yar’Adua’s vow to ensure the empowerment of women, with an increase of percentage of the appointments of females into his administration appointments.

It is heartwarming news to learn that Nigeria’s National Assembly has been inaugurated to begin a new term alongside the new president of Nigeria, President Yar’Adua. It is particularly exciting to note the gender agenda progress that has been made since 1999 with the appointments of key female federal ministers, and other key female appointees, who it turned out, were among the star-performers of the Obasanjo administration.

It will be recalled as well, that the first female member of the Supreme Court of Nigeria was appointed less than five years ago! Gender Equality has not been achieved in Nigeria by any stretch of the imagination, but steadily, crucially necessary steps are being taken! We concede that there is more that needs to be done to elevate women worldwide.

America for the first time, elected a female speaker, and that was only a few months ago! And now, I can shout, America! Show me your Speaker Nancy Polosi of the US Congress. I will show you Madam Speaker Patricia Etteh of Nigeria's National Assembly!

Nigerians and Nigeria are making gender agenda progress with the election of Madam Speaker Patricia Etteh!

In May of 2006, that is, about a year ago, I wrote "Gender Equality Agenda & Obasanjo’s Presidency with comments of a reader which follows; Thanks for this piece. No other administration has done our women so proud. There are numerous other women appointees not covered by media attention. Mrs. Ronke Omame, accomplished International Lawyer is in charge as Special Adviser, Urban Planning, Illustrious daughters of the following friends of Mr. President also serve: Dr Alex Ekwueme‘s Daughter, Prof Wole Soyinka‘s Daughter, Chief Abraham Adesanya’s Daughter; These ladies are successful in their own rights, but are recognized by Mr. President and "drafted" by Mr. President for public service of our fatherland.

Mrs. Remi Oyo is doing much better than her male predecessors as Presidential Spokesperson - Special Assistant to Mr. President on Media and Publicity. (By the way, it was Mrs. Nenadi of the Ministry of Finance that first raised alarm at the massive corruption being perpetrated by some State Governors) There are numerous other unofficial women advisers that Mr. President consults from time to time especially from the ivory towers. (Some of the words of our National Pledge were supplied even as far back as 1976 during his first coming by Prof Mrs. Adeyoyin of the Faculty of Education University of Lagos

President Olusegun Obasanjo's gender uplift for our women should not come as a surprise. If, his friends in NVS and other media who are digging and furnishing material's from the President's past research on our National issues would do their home-work, they would discover that one of the Thesis authored by our President is on the subject: Great Women of The Bible.

It is to the credit of these women appointees however, that none of them disappointed. Their hard work, dedication, honesty and apolitical but patriotic service remain pillars that have sustained the Administration and brought its achievements accolades and recognition outside Nigeria. Should he get third term, it would be nice to have one of these national "gems of inestimable value" as our Vice President. Kudos to Mr. President, kudos to our Amazonian Patriots and thanks to their "significant others" for granting them "leave of absence"!

In the said article, I equally made the following comments among others; Among the numerous outstanding federal appointments of women to high caliber positions is the appointment of the Honorable Justice Aloma M. Muktar who becomes the first woman in Nigeria’s judicial history to be appointed to the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Through this appointment, President Obasanjo broke the glass ceiling of female lawyers in Nigeria. It is a historical first. The Supreme Court of Nigeria has always been an all boys club since the founding of Nigeria as a nation.

Honorable Justice Aloma M. Muktar’s appointment gives credibility to Obasanjo’s promise to champion women’s empowerment.

Nigeria, during the Obasanjo’s presidency, have also been blessed with the appointments of many other females, such as Honorable Minister of state, Finance, Mrs. Nenadi Esther Usman, as well as the appointment of Honorable Minister Mrs. Oby Ezekwsili of Ministry of Solid Minerals otherwise known as Madam Due Process. Additionally, Dr. Dora Akunyili of NAFDAC and Mrs. Chikwe the former Minister for Aviation, and Mrs. Ojomo, who served as Minister for Housing. Nigeria’s Federal Internal Revenue Service is headed by Ms. Ifueko Omoigui and Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) is presided over by Mrs. Onyiuke. Mrs. Chinwe Nora Obaji the Minister for Education and Mrs. Halima Tayo Alao Minister of state, Education, Minister of state, Health Chief Mrs. H.U Esuene Presidential Liaison Officer Senator Florence Ita-Giwa, Mrs. Grace Ogwuche is one of the new cabinet ministers. Professor Joy Ugwu, Minister, Foreign Affairs. This is by no means exhaustive list.

President Yar’Adua has also promised to appoint and ensure the appointments of female to greater percentage of public office positions. These are simply extraordinary and outstanding times! Successive gender equality progress. Especially considering Nigeria’s bleak gender past.

Your Comments

Please make The Square an enjoyable experience for everyone by refraining from gratuitous ad-hominem contributions, defamatory comments and off-topic posting. Such posts will be removed.

Robot

# 1 | 05.06.2007 14:59

	var sbtitle3885=encodeURIComponent(Nigeria Ele...Read the full article.

Auspicious Auspicious is offline

# 2 | 05.06.2007 15:08

	Iz it Beanz? Auspy.

Johntina Johntina is offline

# 3 | 05.06.2007 15:11

	Paul Adujie's Nigeria, not mine! There is nothing worth celebrating or being proud of about what is happening in Nigeria recently. It is sad that someone who expected a high standard of care and responsible leadership in Africa from Tony Blair, a British Prime Minister (and non-African) is here celebrating fraud and mediocrity in his own country.

daaloy daaloy is offline

# 4 | 05.06.2007 15:30

	Paul Your comparison is nothing but a shame. What will you tell your eight months old baby, rise and run when you know she can,t. I think Nigeria should take the opportunity the have to better the lives of Nigerians than trying to do something it could not reach. It took America so many years to reach where they are and contnuing to progress. Nigeria is an 8 month old baby and you think making a woman speaker is what Nigerian are looking for. This woman was in the last 8 years jumping from AD to PDP and have refused to comments on the last selection she was part of to become the speaker. There's no where Polosi or Liberia presedent is in the same league with Ette. She is a poster girl for PDP evil machinery and until she declares her stand regarding the April 2007 election debacle, she reamains a discredited speaker in the ears of the world. IK

dele26 dele26 is offline

# 5 | 05.06.2007 15:34

	Mr. Aduje or Mr. ‘Adanikonje ladaku’ Really I would have loved to know your reaction or read your articles when Abacha and Babangida were ruling Nigeria

Auspicious Auspicious is offline

# 6 | 05.06.2007 15:52

	The woman who was privileged to be chosen by her peers as the first female speaker of Nigeria's House of Representatives was acknowledged only once by the author, Paul I. Adujie, whereas the garrullous, intemperate man who has managed to enthrone mediocrity across the land, from Anambra to Oyo, was mentioned severally. Even after he has left the scene, having ruled for eight years that comes far short of what was expected of him given the resources at his disposal, the praise-singing of a President whose record only shines when placed against that of the failed despots before him continues - thanks to a man who worships the ground on which Olusegun Obasanjo walks. Again, we have to contend with reading another of Paul's see-no-evil, hear-no-evil type of establishment-praising articles on NVS. Too bad, some of us just have to wear the armor and monitor his publications closely, and shoot down all the kites he flies lest it corrupt others with its non-stop exergerrations of the successes of the last government in Nigeria. I wonder if Mr. Adujie has read THIS article. He probably did (or did not) but I would not be suprised if he has and, proceeded to boycott discourse on the littany of solid allegations against his Oga in Owu (via Abeokuta). I would recommend that Mr. Adujie invest hard into Lobbyism, with offices in the 36 states and the FCT, from where he can render his services to many of Nigeria's attention-seeking politicians. Auspicious.

dele26 dele26 is offline

# 7 | 05.06.2007 16:15

	=Auspicious;181258>The woman who was privileged to be chosen by her peers as the first female speaker of Nigeria's House of Representatives was acknowledged only once by the author, Paul I. Adujie, whereas the garrullous, intemperate man who has managed to enthrone mediocrity across the land, from Anambra to Oyo, was mentioned severally. Even after he has left the scene, having ruled for eight years that comes far short of what was expected of him given the resources at his disposal, the praise-singing of a President whose record only shines when placed against that of the failed despots before him continues - thanks to a man who worships the ground on which Olusegun Obasanjo walks. Again, we have to contend with reading another of Paul's see-no-evil, hear-no-evil type of establishment-praising articles on NVS. Too bad, some of us just have to wear the armor and monitor his publications closely, and shoot down all the kites he flies lest it corrupt others with its non-stop exergerrations of the successes of the last government in Nigeria. I wonder if Mr. Adujie has read THIS article. He probably did (or did not) but I would not be suprised if he has and, proceeded to boycott discourse on the littany of solid allegations against his Oga in Owu (via Abeokuta). I would recommend that Mr. Adujie invest hard into Lobbyism, with offices in the 36 states and the FCT, from where he can render his services to many of Nigeria's attention-seeking politicians. Auspicious. ____________________________________________________________________ Auspicious , Mongbadun e bi oyibo sen gbadun cigar, Instead of removing the deti wey dey eye with water the man dey be-liv say eye go take kia if itself. I pray the eye will not go blind sha. ___________________________________________________________________

skanbroy skanbroy is offline

# 8 | 05.06.2007 16:23

	Though it is gratifying that we now have a female House of Reps Speaker, am not sure am impressed with this particular person's profile, which can be found here: http://www.nassnig.org/House/Personaldata/Osun/etteh.htm I cannot recall any serious contributions she ever made to debates on the floor of the house.

dele26 dele26 is offline

# 9 | 05.06.2007 16:27

	=skanbroy;181266>Though it is gratifying that we now have a female House of Reps Speaker, am not sure am impressed with this particular person's profile, which can be found here: http://www.nassnig.org/House/Personaldata/Osun/etteh.htm I cannot recall any serious contributions she ever made to debates on the floor of the house. _________________________________________________________________ eeeeeeeeeeee, i dey smell rat ooooo, Education: Diploma in Law,University of Abuja. _________________________________________________________________

Yankari Yankari is offline

# 10 | 05.06.2007 17:47

	Here we go again, celebrating style over substance (Apologies to David Cameron) In all the talk of this new speaker i'm yet to read any half decent achievement about her, yet Paul is elated. 8 years ago it was 'generation shift' and 'presidency must come to the south'. Well it sure did come to the south, The rest as they say is history! Ofcourse we got a younger generation in the same package, Ibori , Igbinedion and other 'Owambe' governors. Interesting as well to read Pauls list of OBJ's women, he thinks Ita Giwa is worth celebrating, was Ojomo not the fall guy during those federal Government housing scandal, Pray tell what exactly did Tayo Alao or Kema Chikwe achieve that is worth making noise about!

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