On the 7th of April 2026, UN Women was host to Women Affairs Secretariat (WAS) FCTA at UN House in Abuja. The parley was to analyse policies, platforms and partnerships consequential to the post Convention on the Status of Women (CSW) 70 era in the FCT and beyond. CSW 70 was held between the 9th and 19th of March 2026. The theme was 'Rights, Justice & Action'. At least 37 member states were unanimous that access to justice is non-negotiable.
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Some of the agreed conclusions at CSW 70 were:
*There should be equitable legal systems
*Abolish structural barriers that limit women
*The Universal Declaration of Human Rights & the Beijing Declaration should always be taken into consideration
*There should be safe, enabling and violence-free environment for women/girls
*There should be adequate funding for women's programmes/issues via gender-responsive budgeting i.e. resources should be allocated where needed
Ms. Beatrice Eyong (UN Women Country Representative to Nigeria & ECOWAS) represented the UN Resident & Humanitarian Coordinator. If all humans are born free and equal, why is it that in 2026 women still do not have their freedom? Women cannot gain if there's no justice. Nigeria has a private sector led Sexual & Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) Prevention & Response Coalition. UN Women suports the activities of the coalition. There's a viable Sex Offenders' Register which should be updated regularly.
Dr. Princess Jumai Idonije (SA Technical to the Minister of Women Affairs) represented the Minister). 2026 has been declared by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the Year of Families. Social security measures cover at least 10 million households. The Renewed Hope Social Impact Intervention covers the 774 Local Government Area in the country - clean energy and secure livelihoods are a germane part of the deal. There's also the Women's Digital Harmony Initiative - the Happy Women's Hour. Over 20 million women have been mentored. There is the National Electronic Dashboard for reporting SGBV cases. Survivor support systems are in place. The Care Economy is now officially recognised. Unpaid work is scrutinised.
We need strong legal/policy frameworks like the National Women Economic Policy & VAPP Act. Beyond domestication, there should be gazetting and affirmative procurement systems. Apart from gender budgeting, there shouls be social inclusion. Women's participation in Parliament in Nigeria is below 10%, this should improve. Positive Masculinity should be adopted as a strategy. The National Boychils Policy is in order.
Dr. Adedayo Benjamins-Laniyi (Mandate Secretary WAS-FCTA) reeled out some of the economic and social empowerment programmes initiated by her since she was appointed MS:
*Gender & Human Security: Focus on Women in the FCT. This is in collaboration with the University of Abuja (now Yakubu Gowon University) & the Office of the Security Adviser, FCT.
*The Abuja Accelerators project supported by UN Women
*The Cassava (Apu) Women's project supported by UN Women
*Box Out GBV project in collaboration with NSCDC
A number of WAS-FCTA associates gave solidarity messages: Wife of the Ona of Abaji, President NCWS - Princess Edna Azura, Mama Connect (A grassroots politician), etc. The various Departments within WAS-FCTA presented a synopsis of their work at the Secretariat.
In my intervention as Consultant to MS-WAS on WPS (Women, Peace & Security), I talked about the conference on 'Gender & Human Security: Focus on Women in the FCT'...It was a three-layered conference held in 2024. It began in March with engagement with WDOs (Women Development Officers). The WDOs elicited the rather similar security challenges in the six Area Councils of the FCT. Then came the Pre-Conference in June, where the other Secretariats in FCTA were invited to highlight the intersection of their work with security issues. They were unanimous that security of the FCT was and still is a cross-cutting issue. Without security, there can be no development.
The Conference proper was a pot pourri of issues: Transportation, Health, Social Services, Agriculture, Education, AI (Artificial Intelligence), WWDs (Women With Disability), Safety in the digital space, Role of NSCDC in FCT security, Youth community engagement, Role of the Armed Forces, Self-safety AI tools for women, Food safety and CC (Climate Change). The issues were exhaustively discussed with a vision to make it an annual coference. But lack of funds continues to be a major deterrent in view of the fact that the conference could hold last year. We hope that we can hold it this year with the theme: Safety of FCT Women in Agriculture.
It was a robust meeting that connected the dots between the takeaways from the CSW 70 Conference and the work of WAS-FCTA. We look forward to CSW 71...
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