A former Commissioner for Women Affairs in Kwara State, Hajia Riskatullahi Mopelola Abdulmaliq-Bashir, is confident that women in the state, irrespective of their political interests, would reciprocate the kind gestures of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and vote for his re-election in 2023 because they are not ingrates.

The Commissioner, who has just been redeployed to the Ministry of Water Resources, spoke during an interactive session with journalists on the activities of her ministry.

She said, “The governor has done so well for this ministry. Nigerian women are praying for the governor. They appreciate him, and that is why awards have been pouring in for him because he is the champion of ‘He for She’.

"This will surely rub off on his chances at the 2023 governorship election because Kwara women are appreciative.

“If I have a programme and pick my phone to invite women groups by 6am tomorrow all of them will be here across all party lines.

“Even the party has been complaining. Whatever we do here we spread it so that everybody can have access to it. Kwara women are not ingrates.

“They can see the difference. They can see that he has brought so many new things. And he is bringing more.

“I know with what he has been able to do, right-thinking women will definitely put their thumbs where their hearts are. They will give their votes to that man that has done so much for them. To whom much is given much is expected.

You can see mass defections from other parties to APC because the governor has done much.

“As far as our party is concerned, he has done well. Definitely, women are always rational in decision making and they will give their thumbs up to that man that has done so much for them. “Women are with him. When women are with you God is with you”.

She commended AbdulRazaq for effecting the gender composition law which has opened the political space in the area of appointment for women, and which has now scaled up the level of representation of women in the political appointment to a minimum of 35 per cent and a maximum of 65 per cent.

“This implies that no government will come to this state and close the door that the current administration has opened for women”, Abdulmaliq-Bashir added.

The Commissioner went on: “As of today, the state has a ratio of 50 to 50 representation in the cabinet of the state government.

We have a 20-member cabinet, ten of them are women and ten are men. This is more than affirmative action is calling for. This is to the benefit of the women’s affairs.”

Unlike in the 2019 general elections when there was no name of any woman on the ballot in all the elective posts, she said that five female candidates are currently battling to secure seats in the state assembly in the 2023 elections.

Her words: “On gender mainstreaming, the interest of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq is on improving women’s participation in decision-making processes. We have been able to do that”

“As we all know, we have five female candidates seeking to get seats in the state House of Assembly

“That is the highest in Nigeria based on the available records that I have access to. It was not easy, but the ministry had to reach out to stakeholders for the feat to be achieved”.

The current chairperson for women’s affairs in the all-male state House of Assembly is a man. I asked him the other time whether he had gone through pains of child-bearing, monthly call, lactation and breastfeeding and all that”.

The Commissioner further said that it is a crime for any man residing in Kwara to abuse his children, beat his wife or abandon his family as it now attracts a penalty of N500, 000 or N1million penalty respectively, saying the law to that effect was signed into law in 2020.

“We have been able to go all out to get the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Law signed. Because of what we have done, some non-governmental organisations are coming into partner with us”, Abdulmaliq-Bashir stated.

“It is now a crime for anyone to abuse his children, beat his wife or abandon his family etc. The issue of sexual and gender-based violence is complex.

“There are penalties for any man to abandon his family. It ranges between N500, 000 and a N1million. The law was signed in 2020 and our partners have simplified it for us in Yoruba and English”.

The Commissioner explained that AbdulRazaq created NAPTIP office in Kwara in order to effectively control the rampant cases of child trafficking unlike before now when the state annexed Osun for its activities.

“Kwara is the transit and recruitment centre for child trafficking. It is commonplace in Kwara north and central. The rate of child trafficking in the state given the available report is one of the highest in the South-West but lowest in the north.

“Because the state stands at the recruitment space and the exit point the attention has now shifted here.

“The state now has a NAPTIP office. This is unlike before when we had to go to Osun, and this happened courtesy of the governor.”

The Commissioner said that since she assumed office she had resuscitated the hitherto comatose Skill Acquisition Centre of the ministry and that 67 trainees recently graduated from the ministry.

According to her, she has been able to open a new template of engagement with civil society organisations (CSOs) contrary to the usual practice of lumping everything together.

The Commissioner also said that her ministry has empowered 4, 100 women artisans of various interest groups, International Federation of Women Lawyers, Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN) etc. across political divides with gas cylinders.