The President’s wife, Hajiya Aisha Buhari, on Monday urged governors’ wives to support their respective husbands by engaging the needy and taking care of vulnerable people in their domains.
She noted that even if the constitution does not explicitly provide a role for First Ladies, Aisha told the governors’s wives that it did not stop them from making a difference in the lives of the people.
According to her, the Governors’ Wives Forum was an avenue for them to support their husbands towards delivering on the change agenda.
She said: “As wives of political office holders, we must continue to do our best in contributing to the success.
“I believe in our little ways, we can assist them to bring succour to the populace, especially those in need such as victims of insurgency in the North East and other forms of violence, physically challenged and other vulnerable groups.
“It is on this note I felt it is important for us to come together to strengthen our unity and extend our solidarity to each other under a common platform.
“There, we need to develop strong leadership structures in the two regions not only in one as the case with the already known Northern Governors Wives Forum of the country.” She added
Aisha also called for the restructuring of the two regional halves of the forum to boost networking, cooperation and constructive partnership.
She urged the First Ladies to be prepared to deal with programmes that are capable of impacting positively on the lives of citizens particularly the less privileged members of the society.
She listed some of the challenges facing the poor to include widowhood rites, female inheritance rights, female genital mutilation, early marriages, violence against women and children, high maternal mortality and women economic empowerment.
