By Auwal Ahmad
Gombe
Gombe state Commissioner for Justice, Barrister Abdulhamid Ibrahim, has given the assurance that he would facilitate the speedy passage and domestication of the proposed state Gender and Equal Opportunities for All Persons’ Bill.
The bill, Blueprint gathered, seeks to promote development of all personsin the state.
He gave the assurance yesterday while speaking during an advocacy visit by Technical Working Committee, who reviewed the draft bill in support of UN Women and the Ministry of Women Affairs in Gombe.
According to him, as the professional he would look at the bill.
“I want to assure you in the same spirit and the belief that, what gathered us today together is the intention of making sure that whatsoever law is put in place should also be helpful to Gombe state. Our state cannot be an exception,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Gender Technical Advisor of UN Women in Gombe state, Mrs. Rhoda Zira-Dia, has appreciated the government for the huge support the organisation was receiving from them, through the Ministry of Women Affairs, “in trying to ensure that the bill becomes law in the state.”
Mrs. Zira-Dia said the programme of UN Women was being implemented in the three states of Adamawa, Plateau and Gombe state, but that in Plateau, the state Assembly had already passed the bill into law.
One of the Lead Mentors of the UN Women, a member of the Technical Working Committee, Mrs. Halima Mahadi, said Gombe would have been the first state to pass the bill into law, but wanted it to be in consonance with the culture and religion of the people; “hence the deliberate indebt review by relevant stakeholders.”
She said Gender and Equal Opportunities for Persons Bill “does not seek to equate women with men, or seek to turn women against men, but wants the society to give all persons equal opportunities for growth and development of the society.”
