A former Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, on Monday, blamed the rising insecurity in the country on injustice and failed family system.
Okorocha, who is also the Senator representing Imo West, stressed that the collapse of family values and system gave rise to insurgency, banditry and youths restiveness, adding that a safe and prosperous society begins with the home.
The lawmaker, who spoke while receiving an Award of Excellence from the United Business Women Association of Nigeria and Diaspora, noted that women have a critical role to play in the security of the country by imparting moral and family values in the children.
“A woman is a special creation by God, women are givers and custodians of life. Nations that ignore their women are considered failed nations, while nations that make good use of their women are called developed nations.
”So, if Nigeria must rise again, then we must make a turnaround and look at the women.
“If we don’t carry the women along, we are in for a very serious trouble,” Okorocha said.
According to him, for Nigeria to pull out of the current security and economic challenges, women must be empowered and carried along in governance and policymaking.
He added, ”If any nation must get it right, it has to start from the family.
“It is the bad family system that we have today that has given rise to insurgency and other criminality in the country.
“No sane woman who gave birth to a child will allow the child to go astray.
“The problem is that we have not taken care of the women and we have not empowered the women.
“Whatever you give a woman is what you get in return. While we men have succeeded in dividing this country along religious and ethnic lines, the women have remained a force of unity.
”For as long as we have not empowered the women in the house to give us good family, for as long as our politicians continue on the path of injustice, insurgency, kidnapping will never stop”.
Presenting the Award, the President of the association, Mrs Nkiruka Madu, said the former governor was selected for the award as a result of his philanthropy, especially the empowerment of women and free education for indigent children across the country.