Mrs. Toyin Ojora Saraki is a Nigerian philanthropist with two decades of advocacy, and she has expressed her displeasure about the state of things with the security of women in the country.
“This year marked the start of the United Nations’ Decade of Delivery, where we were promised that things would change for the empowerment of women and girls. Armed with research to prove how much better off our world would be with the rights of women and girls realised, we in the global advocacy community declared that it is well past time to start living in a gender equal reality,” she wrote.
“But instead of keeping our promise to protect and empower women and girls, in Nigeria in 2020, we are still burying them,” she continued.
Mrs Saraki who is the Global Goodwill Ambassador for World Midwives, on the rape cases wrote, “But with the heartless, thoughtless violent deaths of Uwa and Tina it is clear that we have thus far failed to engage leaders and policymakers to implement meaningful mechanisms to protect them.”
With a strong passion for leadership, Mrs Saraki noted her involvement with gender and promotion of a safe environment for women, “Last year I was honoured to join the International Conference on Population and Development, full of hope to deepen Nigeria’s consultations on gender. I called to build political commitment from leaders and policymakers to speak out, condemning violence against women.
“At the Commonwealth of Nations last year, we made a promise of No More Violence, yet, here we are, from our leaders, and right down to our grassroots, failing women and girls. Frankly, I am outraged. The gruesome deaths of Uwa and Tina are a visceral notice of our failure in Nigeria, and that’s why I am joining the WACOL Tamar SARC and Social Intervention Advocacy Foundation to call for radical reform of our police, to end the impunity of sexual violence against women and girls. In the name of all our global and national commitments to women and girls, the Nigerian state must make systemic changes to protect our young girls. Uwa and Tina’s lives will not be lost in vain,” she wrote.
To read her full heartfelt article, click her website here
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