Presidential Research & Communications Unit

When guns are shot, bomb blasts, grenade thrown, when all hope is lost, blood is shed, and eyes cannot differentiate dawn from dusk. Of course order breaks: boys’ pickup arms, total anarchy sway, married women become concubines. All is let loose only the blubber of children, tears of women and whimper of old citizens could be heard.

In any nation state that experiences war it is the vulnerable ones that suffer the absence of peace. The first victims of conflicts are women who suffer physically and emotionally. They also represent a vital force capable of taking part in the evolution of any given society.

With most such experiences witness in Africa, African woman has seen too many deaths: the death of her husband, son, father or brother. She suffers and pays the price of life as the seed of tolerance and victim of deficit peace when she and her children pay the price of armed conflict.

Recently the Nigerian First Lady, Hajia Turai Yar’Adua who is also the Chairperson of African First Ladies Peace Mission, visited Liberia to identify with Liberian Women problems where she pledged that her non-governmental organization, WAYEF would support their dreams and collaborate in improving the women’s’ life. She observed that the major problem confronting majority of African women is poverty and unemployment. Though Liberia is out of war, there are problems of under aged mothers where over half of Liberian mothers are under eighteen years of age. She was indeed moved by their plight as she donated bundles of wrappers, bags of food items and cash donation of $10,000.00 to empower widows and disable in collaboration with NGO of the wife of Liberian Vice President. She similarly donated $10,000.00 to empower 100 youths in collaboration with NGO of the wife of Liberian Vice President through the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Republic of Liberia.

Hajia Turai Yar’Adua along with the Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf commissioned the Tubman National Institute of Medical Arts Dormitory and Annex in John F Kennedy Medical Centre, Singor, Monrovia, Liberia.

The First Lady also visited Vesico Virginal fistula Centre of JFK, Medical Centre where she sympathized with the patients, and also called on the hospital authority to empower them so that they could be able to take care of themselves after been discharged from the hospital. She also made generous donation from her per project of Women and Youth Empowerment Foundation WAYEF by providing bags of food items, cartons of soaps and medicament before proceeding to Monrovia Demonstration School and gave them school materials.

Hajia Turai Yar’Adua believes that nothing is more central to development than the economic and social participation of women. This is particularly so in post conflict societies, where women often make up the majority of the population and have the primary responsibility for rising the next generation. Empirical evidence shows that raising female education, increasing their control over resources, and lifting their political voice can have a profound impact on development.

During her visit, Hajia Turai Yar’Adua reinforces that educating girls is the rocket booster of development because educated women have well disciplined children and can provide better nutrition and health for their families and at the same time be able to generate more income from the skills they learn.

The bottom line is that in many countries women are excluded economically and their needs neglected. Giving women access to qualitative education and economic power can redress that despite daunting task in pregnancy, childbirth and child rearing these group continue to surge in realizing food is placed on the table for the family.

The Nigerian delegation’s visit is not from the blue. Nigeria and Liberia have a strong bilateral relation which started many years back. The First Lady’s move is just adding flavor to the Nigerian foreign policy which has been characterized by a focus on Africa and by attachment to several fundamental principles: African unity and Independence, peaceful settlements of disputes, non alignment and non intentional interference in the internal affairs of other nations and regional economic co-operation and development. In pursuing her goal of regional economic co-operation and development, Nigeria is in the forefront in promoting the ideals of ECOWAS, which seeks to harmonize trade and investment practices in its 16 West African member countries and ultimately to achieve a full custom union.

The guiding principle of Nigeria’s regional foreign policy was that of good neighbourliness and friendship. In line with its ECOWAS commitment, Nigeria was one of the main contributors of troops to the ECOWAS Cease-fire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) sent to Liberia on August 23, 1990 after the internal peace talks failed. It is on record that from 1989 to 1996 one of the Africa’s bloodiest civil wars ensued in that country claiming the lives of over 200,000 Liberians and displacing a million others into refugee camps in neighbouring countries.

Nigeria has played a central role in the ECOWAS efforts to end civil war in Liberia and contributed the bulk of ECOWAS peace keeping forces sent there since 1990. Nigerian peace keepers have been in Liberia from the beginning of the country’s civil unrest to the time of peace consolidation.

Nigeria, the most populous African country, has a moderately large network of diplomatic missions the country has significant influence in Africa and various multilateral fora, including the organization of the Islamic Conference, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Common Wealth and the African Union.

Maryam Abubakar Gulma
Abuja.