The Minister of Defence, Alhaji Muhammed Badaru, has reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to bridge gender gaps and ensure parity in the Nigerian Armed Forces.
Badaru gave the assurance at a one-day gender Mainstreaming Conference with the theme “Building Capacity Through Gender Mainstreaming to meet Security Challenges” organized by the Defence Headquarters, on Thursday in Abuja.
He said that the government had shown commitment to addressing barriers to recruitment and career progression for females in the Ministry of Defence and its various department agencies, including the armed forces.
The minister said that the Ministry of Defence under his supervision would continue to place emphasis on the abolition of gender gaps and enhance mainstreaming towards achieving peace and security of the nation.
“Taking into consideration the impact of gender mainstreaming on training, deployment and operational efficiency of military personnel, it is pertinent to reiterate that the present administration is ever ready for initiatives such as this to reposition the armed forces to better tackle the security challenges facing the nation.
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“I am glad about the deliberate effort of the current leadership of the armed forces in adopting commendable gender mainstreaming policies in its military operations.
“It is on record that the Nigerian Armed Forces have surpassed the recommended benchmark and placed by the UN regarding female participation in peacekeeping operations.
“This development has continued to improve the operational efficiency of our troops in various right theatres of operation both within and outside the country.
“It is also instructive that the effort by the Nigerian Armed Forces is in line with the UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which recognizes the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of complete peace negotiation, peacekeeping as well as humanitarian response in post-conflict reconstruction,” he said.
Badaru said the UN resolution called for equal participation and full involvement of women in all efforts in the maintenance and promotion of peace and security.
According to him, the resolution required countries to develop their own action plans to identify, evaluate and control efforts to achieve the objective of peace and security through effective gender policies and initiatives, which the Nigerian Armed Forces, have taken as a challenge.
He said that the outcome of these policies and additional initiatives had increased the roles, perspectives and opportunities afforded women in the armed forces.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the conference was declared open by the First Lady, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, represented by the Wife of the Vice President, Hajia Nana Shettima.
NAN