Gov. Ben Ayade of Cross River has charged the Southern Governors Wives’ Forum (SGWF) to place premium on the welfare and empowerment of children in their respective states.
Ayade made the call when a delegation of the forum visited him at the Government House on Friday in Calabar.
The governor said that children and women had become vulnerable in the society, hence the need to care for them by initiating policies that would empower them.
“I must admit that wives of this forum are doing exceptionally well in their different states as it concerns children and women empowerment.
“I want this forum to focus more on children and women which are the vulnerable in the society. I have decided to host you in Calabar because your emphasis is on women and children.
“My first project, the garment factory, was set up primarily to empower women.
”Today, over 90 per cent of the workers are women and a majority of them are widows,’’ he said.
The host of the SGWF and wife of Cross River Governor, Dr Linda Ayade, said that the forum was charting a new course of development for women and children in the southern part of the country.
Earlier, President of the forum and wife of the governor of Imo, Mrs Nneoma Okorocha, said that they were in the state to interact and empower the women.
Okorocha said that the SWGF is an association instituted by the wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buhari, to promote the welfare of women and children in southern states.
“We are in Calabar for a two-day visit. Our aim is to chat with the women and empower them, because the SGWF believes in building bridges of development.
“Our objective is to promote the girl-child education, eradicate child-labour, empowerment of women and children and support pet projects of wives of governors,” she said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the governors’ wives present are from Cross River, Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Imo, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Lagos, Ogun, Osun and Oyo states. (NAN)
GNO/JI/SOA