The wives of Nigeria’s governors have expressed their commitment to intensify advocacy and awareness efforts on the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines to address resistance at the grassroots level.
They have also pledged to collaborate closely with primary health workers and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to ensure a comprehensive awareness campaign to scale up HPV vaccination across the country.
These resolutions were reached at the end of their quarterly meeting and third annual retreat, organized under the auspices of the Nigeria Governors’ Wives Forum in Bauchi State. The communique issued at the meeting was read by the Chairperson of the Forum and First Lady of Kwara State, Mrs. Olufolake Abdulrazaq, and Dr. Aisha Bala Mohammed, First Lady of Bauchi State.
The annual retreat provided a platform for the members to deliberate on the forum’s work plan for the coming year, and it also served as an opportunity for the first ladies to interact and gain a deeper understanding of the diverse states within the country. The communique highlighted the successful mobilization and engagement of the first ladies in various advocacy efforts, including sensitization campaigns, drug eradication, gender-based violence prevention, nutrition improvement, and women and girl child education.
The first ladies also resolved that the “Nigeria Governors’ Wives Forum” (NGWF) should transition to the “Nigeria Governors’ Spouses Forum” to underscore the active role they play in advocating for increased women’s representation in leadership positions.
In addition, they endorsed a women digital up-skilling program in partnership with the Lagos Business School and the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC). This program aims to provide digital training to girls and women from their respective states, reducing the gender gap in the digital industry and ensuring that women can benefit from the sector.
The first ladies will participate in a workshop on sexual and gender-based violence organized by the NGWF in partnership with UN Women, as well as a capacity-building program on drug abuse prevention and mitigation in collaboration with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
Furthermore, the first ladies endorsed a joint compact on ending gender-based violence and harmful practices, a joint collaboration between the NGWF and UNICEF.
The meeting was attended by 17 first ladies.
