A group of civil society organisations (CSOs) in Nigeria has scored government low in the drive to achieve Goal Five of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

The CSOs made this known at a two-day capacity building workshop on ‘Coordination Mechanisms to End Violence Against Women and to Generate Shadow Reports’.

The workshop was organised by the Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) under its United Nations Spotlight Initiative Project.

Development Diaries understands that the United Nations had in 2015 set ‘Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls’ as the fifth of 17 Sustainable Development Goals, as it targets ending all forms of discrimination against all women and girls globally.

It also seeks to eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls both in the public and private spheres, including trafficking, sexual and other types of exploitation.

Executive Director of Peace and Gender Equality Initiative, Mojisola Akinsanya, said there have not been sufficient programmes and policies to empower women.

‘Government tends to focus only on aspects of the SDGs that favour the men. It has not been supportive of the achievement of the targets of this goal’, she said.

‘As long as poverty exists, social ills will continue. We cannot remove poverty but we can reduce it. Gender equality cannot be achieved when women do not have the money to empower themselves and run for political offices’.

Akinsanya, who also spoke on the increasing rate of abuse of women and girls, said it was important to document cases of abuse.

‘Civil society groups are the mouthpiece of the people and they should let the world know how true the government’s reports are. It is our duty to assess the reports of government’, Akinsanya said.

Also speaking, Executive Director of the Centre for 21st Century Issues, Gbemisola Akosa, said there was a need to engage women and girls at the grassroots.

Source: Vanguard

Photo source: Mojisola Akinsanya