The Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen, has explained the reason why President Muhammadu Buhari deployed her to the ministry.
Speaking on Wednesday after her inauguration at the State House, she said her appointment was because the President was not unmindful of the role women have played in his political career. She assured that women will henceforth begin to enjoy enormous support and cooperation from President Buhari.
She revealed that the keyword she will dwell with is girl-child education because most vulnerable women are uneducated. Addressing staff at the Ministry she said:
"This is a wholistic ministry as the woman takes care of the home, children and husband. I am giving you all a charge that things will be done different henceforth.
“We must set out targets and work towards achieving it. We must make history and make undelible mark on the sands of history.
“You have severally bombarded Mr. President about the role women played in his political carrer. He is not unmindful of that and I want to assure you that Mr. President has a very good reason of sending me to this ministry. You will see the enormous support and corporation we are going to enjoy from him.
“We all resolved to work as a team from our recent retreat. This ministry is multi facet and has a lot of responsibilities to touch the lives of the vulnerable.
“We have an uphill task to meet up with mandate of the ministry and demand of the president. Women do not go without the children; neither can they go without the men. This is the time to give back to the society.
“Women are the engine of the economy and must be carried along to improve the economy. Once women are empowered, the economy changes. We will make impact if we are able to improve on the life of the vulnerable woman. Support them with income generating activities, there will be peace and development.
“Most of the security problem is because we have out of school children. If we look for ways to engage these children meaningfully, the security situation will change. Then we will have peace.
“The key word I want to dwell with is the girl child education because most of the vulnerable women are uneducated. If a girl is uneducated, there is nothing she can do. She becomes vulnerable in the hand of men.
“We will work with Ministry of Education and Information to sensitise Nigerians and to get everybody on board to ensure that the youths and our women are well engaged in order to change the economy."
