‘Don’t give up on gender bills,’ Lawan tells women

The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, said on Thursday the National Assembly would take another look at the rejected gender bills.

The Senate had last week rejected five gender bills during its ongoing constitution amendment, prompting angry response from women and other concerned groups across the country.

Lawan, according to a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media, Ola Awoniyi, stated this at a meeting in Agasa, Kogi State.

He called on stakeholders to continue to lobby, and never lose sight of the bill scaling through at the National Assembly.

Lawan said: “I know somebody will say gender bills have failed in the National Assembly. That is democracy. Let’s continue to lobby.

Read also: Reps make U-turn, to revisit three gender bills

“We should continue to lobby because nobody will like to undermine anybody. Let’s not lose hope.

“Every male member in the National Assembly is a “He for She” because I don’t think there is anybody who is not married in the National Assembly.

“We will continue to work together with gender-based organisations especially those that genuinely want to engage with members of the National Assembly because if you are not able to get something, if there is a failure, we should make it a political capital that tomorrow, we say, you were not able to do it yesterday, can you do it today. That will help us in ensuring that we get some of these hurdles out of the way.

“Most of us have our daughters as well. So we know that everybody is one way or the other connected to this struggle but we should not lose hope.”

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