Power] British Government pledged to support Nigerian women to be actively involved in politics (See Full Details)

The British Government has pledged to support Nigerian women to be actively involved in politics.

The UK Special envoy on gender equality, Joanna Roper, stated this in an interview with Vanguard in Abuja.

Roper said that she had met with the Senate President, Bukola Saraki who she said pledged support on the passage of the gender bill by the National Assembly

She said seeing more women in politics in Nigeria was a priority to the UK Government.

“Nigeria and UK will work together on gender equality and others.

“Twelve states in Nigeria have had their national plan on gender equality and this shows that UK and Nigeria can work together on it,” she said.

According to her, the British Government is keen on women getting involved in politics in Nigeria.

She said that the British government would help in the area of implementation of national action plan designed for it.

“This could be easily done through the national plan at the state level, and a lot of efforts had been made in this regard.

“I think conversation has started over it because that is where we could make impact; it is a work in progress.

“Where we will be more concerned is in the area of female political participation and helping women to be part of mediation and conflict resolution,” she said.

She added that “when women are involved in peace negotiation there is 35 per cent more likely to last 50 years or more

“I think everybody recognises the importance of women in negotiation,” she said.

She said that UK budgeted a total 250 million pounds for conflict, security and stability.

The fund, according to her, is what the British Government made available for security and conflict resolution,

Roper said that she had earlier met with the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and had pledged to support the passage of gender equality bill.