Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof. Wahab Olasupo Egbewole, SAN, has called for more commitments on the part of stakeholders towards gender issues in order to ensure greater human development. Prof. Egbewole made the call recently while declaring open an International Conference, entitled “DigitAll: Innovation and Technology For Gender Equality” organised by the Department of Jurisprudence and International Law, University of Ilorin, to mark this year’s International Women’s Day.
Prof. Egbewole explained that gender issues are emotive phenomena, saying that the issue affects and concerns every member of the human community one way or the other. The Professor of Jurisprudence and International Law said that “we must acknowledge the fact that we are all products of women” and that we owe it a duty to ensure that the interests of women are protected to ensure
human development.
Prof. Egbewole commended the Head and members of the Department of Jurisprudence and International Law for organising the event, which he said explained the respect the university has for women as well as its interest on gender issue.
While encouraging the Department to ensure that the subsequent editions of the programme are better publicised and organised to ensure more participation, the Vice Chancellor implored the Department to ensure that resolutions arrived at are passed to the institution’s authorities for them to be properly driven.
Also speaking, a former Head of the Department, Prof. Nimah Modupe Abdulraheem, encouraged the Federal Government to declare the International Women Day as a public holiday in Nigeria as it is in several other countries of the world.
Going down memory lane, Prof. Abdulraheem, who moderated the programme, recalled that the celebration of the International Women Day started in the United States of America in 1908 as she noted that the Department would continue to be at home with gender care and protection of the vulnerable members of the society.
Prof. Abdulraheem noted that it was important for issues relating to women to be given due attention by all and sundry as she submitted that “women rights are human rights”.
Presenting a paper on “Women as Core Agent of Sustainable Development”, a Professor of Law from the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Ganiyah Adesina-Uthman decried the in elegant treatment women are often exposed to in Nigeria, particularly in leadership recruitment. She urged political leaders in the country to ensure that women are given their fair shares of elective and appointment positions as she also charged the authorities of the University of Ilorin to ensure the enthronement of gender main streaming in appointments of lecturers.
Two other papers were presented in the course of the programme by an Italian scholar and Associate Professor of Law, Dr Roberto Allufo and Dr Gloria Shojobi Ibikunle, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Abuja. While Dr Allufo, in his paper, encouraged women to embrace information technology for personal and collective development, Dr. Ibikunle decried the poor performance of women in education, professionalism and modern entrepreneurship, particularly in the developing world and most especially in Nigeria.
