Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, on Saturday presented to the public the Aspire Women Network Project during the 2020 Happy Conference.
The conference, which is held at International Conference Centre Abuja was an assembly for women of all ages to share experiences with one another, to finding happiness while fulfilling their purpose in life, as women.
According to the statement released by Abdur-Rahman Balogun who is the Head of Media, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Dabiri-Erewa, while at the conference, stressed that the women folks are clamouring for equitable opportunity to complement their male counterparts in all helms of affairs, especially in politics.
The Chairman of NiDCOM added that women are by nature multi-tasking, with the mandate of building, uniting the home, the society and by extension, the nation as a whole. She stated that women always support each other, countering the fallacious assumption that women do not support each other.
In the words of G.D. Anderson: “Feminism isn’t about making women stronger. Women are already strong. It’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength”.
Therefore, in what will go down as a historic intergenerational conference for women, the Aspire Women Forum (AWF), an NGO is hosting the “Happy Conference 2020”with the theme, “A Woman: My Purpose”.
At a news conference in Abuja, the President of the NGO, Barr. Zainab Buba Marwa, stated that the AWF’s Happy Conference 2020 is designed for women to find both happiness and purpose, fulfilment in their chosen endeavours.
She said that research had shown that there is a “deep surge of suicide, murder, despondency, hopelessness and drug abuse among women.
According to the Aspire Wowen Forum, President, one in four drug abusers in Nigeria is a woman, coupled with the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown exposed the alarming numbers of domestic and gender-based violence, especially against women.
The Happy Conference 2020 is created to foster dialogue among women of all ages as encouraged by the Beijing Platform for Action, ‘where the older generation will share their financial, emotional and spiritual (FES) regimen and their experiences in discovering their purpose,with the younger participants’.
While the younger participants on the other hand, who have excelled in various fields will share stories, that will inspire other participants.
The upcoming event is expected to draw a large number of participants and will have notable women from media, healthcare, governance, leadership and others as part of the panel.
The Aspire Women Forum (AWF) is a non-profit, non-religious, non-partisan organisation based in Nigeria, with the vision to be the foremost forum for igniting gender equity by advocating and engaging in areas of Motivational Behavioral Coaching (MBC). And inclusive politics advocacy through knowledge impartation and financial inclusion, which in the words of the NGO’s Founder, “a forum of women, for women, by women”.
Expected guests and keynote speakers at the event include the First Lady, Dr. (Mrs) Aisha Muhammadu Buhari; Dame Pauline Tallen, Minister of Women Affairs; Chief (Mrs) Moji Makanjuola, veteran broadcaster and ED, International Society of Media in Public Health;
Maimuna Abubakar, Founder, Tozaki TV/Magazine and the Chairman of NiPOST; and Ene Obi, Action Aid Representative.