The United Nations has called for a gender responsive approach to improve the security situation in the 36 states of the country and the Federal Capital Territory.
The UN Women representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ms. Beatrice Eyong, made the call at the official launch of the Enhancing Gender-Responsive Security Operations and Community Dialogue Project in Nigeria (Phase II) and public validation of the Nigeria Police Gender Policy, in Abuja, on Thursday.
She noted that the overall objective of the launch event was to increase support and visibility for enhancing gender-responsive security operations and community dialogue in Nigeria by stakeholders, including validation of the 2nd Gender Policy of the Nigeria Police Force.
“The main instrument for the implementation of the Resolution by the UN Member States is the National Action Plan (NAP). As at date, over 100 countries have successfully translated the women, peace and security agenda into National Action Plans. It is heartening to note that the federal government of Nigeria launched its first and second National Action Plans in August 2013 and May 2017, respectively, through the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, with support from UN Women.
“It is also encouraging to see the gradual localization of the NAP through the development and implementation of State Action Plans (SAPs) in response to state specific peace and security issues, from a gender perspective. A total of sixteen(16) states have successfully developed SAPs and Local Action Plans (LAPs) in the country, thereby increasing local ownership and grassroots interventions on the Women, Peace and Security agenda, hence the need for community dialogue to enhance security,” she explained
Earlier in his remarks, the Chairman of Police Service Commission, Solomon Arase, noted that the partnership with the United Nations was critical to the growth of the service operations especially in tackling security and other related issues.
