The Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Inclusion ; Hon Toyin Balogun led the Oyo State contingent, alongside the ebullient Minister for Women Affairs ; Barrister Uju Kennedy,numerous States First Ladies,fellow Commissioners for Women Affairs ;FCT Dr(Mrs) Benjamins-Laniyi,Enugu ; Hon Mrs Gold,Lagos State;:Hon( Mrs) Bolaji Cecilia Dada,Ogun ;Hon Funmi Efuwape,Akwa Ibom;Dr(Mrs) Ini Adiakpan who all led their state contingents to the recently concluded 68th UN Conference on the Status of Women( CSW) which held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York,USA.
Picture: L-R
First Lady Katsina State;Hajia Zulaihat Dikko Radda,Aunty Salamatu,Comm For Women Affairs/Mandate Secretary FCT;Dr(Mrs) Benjamins-Laniyi, Commissioner For Women Affairs Oyo; Hon Toyin Balogun,Hon BOOM,Miss Hajara Adetola Adedibu; SA to Governor Seyi Makinde.
Hon Toyin Balogun and the others on her team; Hon Bisi Oyewo-Micheal ,member House of Assembly representing Ogbomosho North/member House Committee on Women Affairs and Miss Tola Adedibu,SA to His Excellency attended the CSU-68th high profile event as the Oyo State delegation of the Nigerian contingent
The Commissioner was seen representing Nigeria, seated next to the Team Lead of the Africa Bloc;;Mariya Tsvangirai from Ethiopia during Negotiation talks post conference
This 68th review session organised by Commission on the Status of Women( CSU or UNCSW),is a functional Commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), one of the principal organs of the United Nations.
CSW has been described as the UN organ promoting the empowerment of women and creation of equal opportunities for all genders.
Every year, representatives of member Countries( Nigeria inclusive) gather at United Nations Headquarters in New York to evaluate progress made on women empowerment,gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement in the cause of women worldwide
The 68th session theme centred around accelerating full implementation of the various women oriented frameworks & Sustainable Development Goals ; particulately Goal 5,before the focal year 2030
Oyo State Government through its Ministry of Women Affairs has multiplied efforts in incubating several capacity building & poverty alleviation initiatives guaranteed to take the most vulnerable of the female demographic from penury through self sustenance to prosperity
Backed up by the support and force of political will from the Numero Uno citizen of the state and head of government His Excellency Governor Seyi Makinde,together with the concerted effort of his government to provide an enabling environment for enterprising women to flourish through huge investments in power,road network and other basic indices for economic growth,the innate creative forces and potential latent in the female demographic of the state is about to be unleashed.
The Omituntun( Rejuvenation) Agenda of the GSM led govt through the Ministry of Women Affairs & Social Inclusion will be focusing on supporting our women to create Micro,Small ,Medium scale Enterprises( MSMEs),
capacity building trainning,Vocational training,facilitating access to single digit sources of finance for their businesses,agribusiness trainning,access to good nutrition for their families and access to international markets for the sales of their products & services
At the closing session of CSW-68 delivered on Friday 22/03/24,robust commitments were made by UN member states to strengthen financing and institutions to eradicate poverty among women and girls
As a Global average,10.3% of women & girls live in extreme poverty today according to the report presented by the UN Secretary General to the Commission and progress towards ending poverty needs to be 36 times faster to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
The WIP Outcome Document( Agreed Conclusions after negotiations which are expected to be conclusive from next week) recognises that women and girls living under conditions of poverty become shock absorbers in times of crisis,and that more efforts are needed to address poverty among women and girls
The 2 week session is the largest UN gathering on Goal 5 of the SDGs.
CSW-68 brought together world leaders- including two Heads of State( Presidents),3 Vice Presidents,over 100 Ministers,hundreds of Commissioners for Women Affairs from member Countries and 4,800 representatives of civil society organisations,grossing the 2nd highest attendance on CSW records.
On the sidelines of CSW-68,roughly 270 side events were organised by UN member states, intergovernmental organisations and UN entities and more than 760 parralel events were organised by civil society,Women Led and Youth Led groups as part of NGO CSW-68 Forum.
The biggest takeaways for the Honorable Commissioner from this International engagement which she will be building and leveraging opon for the benefit of Oyo State women according to her, are strategic business contacts made during the CSW-68th event ,which when built opon will create opportunities and access for Oyo State business women to international markets via export of their products and services to the United States and beyond.
She also utilised the opportunity to celebrate His Excellency Governor Seyi Makinde for being the biggest champion & supporter of the female demographic of the state.
In her words,Oyo State Women have absolutely the best Governor in the entire Country,who believes our women are blessed with core competencies which can add value to governance and nation building and is prepared to facilitate platforms and opportunities which will support them to become best versions of themselves.
Attestation to this is the fact that His Excellency authorised two different contingents of women to participate in high level Capacity Building engagements in two different business Capitals of the world; Dubai and the United States of America
In 2025,the global community will mark the 30th anniversary of the 4th World Conference on Women and adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action which took place in 1995.
The 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women will take place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 10th to 21st March 2025.
Hon(Mrs) Toyin BALOGUN
COMMISSIONER FOR WOMEN AFFAIRS & SOCIAL INCLUSION