The Women’s Aid Collective (WACOL) on Tuesday convened a high-level panel discussion at the 65th Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), held at the International Conference Centre, Enugu. The session, themed “Status of Women in Nigeria: Thirty Years Post-Beijing World Conference on Women,” examined Nigeria’s progress in advancing women’s rights since the landmark 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
The panel featured distinguished diplomats, academics, and human rights advocates, including Mrs. Gilever OBE, Deputy High Commissioner of the British High Commission in Abuja; Beatrice Eyong, UN Women Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, represented by Mr. Ibrahim Nurudeen, UN Women Programme Officer; Prof. Ebenezer Durojaiye, Acting Director of the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, South Africa; Mr. Ugochukwu Ogbonna, Principal Counsel at WACOL; Mrs. Aisha Yesufu, human rights activist and co-convener of Bring Back Our Girls; and Prof. Obijiofor Aginam, Director of the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP), New Delhi, India.
The session was moderated by Prof. Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, SAN, OON, founding director of WACOL and Tamar Sexual Assault Referral Centre (Tamar SARC), and a former UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons.
During the key discussions,Mrs. Gilever noted that while the United Kingdom ranks 50th on the Global Gender Gap Index, Nigeria has yet to make significant progress. She lamented the underrepresentation of women in politics, pointing out that out of 469 seats in Nigeria’s National Assembly, only 20 are occupied by women. According to her, cultural barriers and gender bias continue to sideline women from decision-making roles despite 25 years of uninterrupted democracy.
Prof. Durojaiye, speaking on behalf of UN Women, highlighted recent progress in women’s economic participation. He cited World Bank data showing an increase in women’s labour force participation from 42.2% in 2015 to 58% in 2024, while women-owned businesses rose from 35% to 41% over the same period. However, he warned that multidimensional poverty still disproportionately affects Nigerian women, who constitute 49.9% of the population. He also stressed the urgency of reducing maternal mortality, which, though down from 814 to 556 deaths per 100,000 live births, remains unacceptably high.
On her part, activist Aisha Yesufu decried the persistent denial of women’s rights and exclusion from political leadership. She emphasized the need for intergenerational dialogue, urging younger women to challenge patriarchal structures and demand equal representation. “If women are not in power, we are powerless,” she said, adding that women must unite to amplify their voices.
Providing institutional WACOL role context, Mr.Ugochukwu Ogbonna explained that WACOL, founded in 1997 by Prof. Joy Ezeilo, is a non-governmental organization committed to promoting women’s and children’s rights, gender equality, and access to justice. Since its inception, the organization has handled over 81,000 cases, resolved more than 10,000 in court, and mediated thousands more. WACOL, he noted, continues to champion women’s empowerment, political participation, and protection against gender-based violence.
Following the shortfalls in the implementation of the twelve critical areas of concern of the Beijing declaration and platform of action in Nigeria ,the Panelists called for urgent reforms to eliminate discriminatory laws, including Section 55(1)(d) of the Penal Code, which permits spousal chastisement. They advocated increased women’s representation in governance, stronger enforcement of women’s rights protections, more funding for grassroots organizations like WACOL, and greater intergenerational solidarity among women.
Other recommendations included promoting girls’ education, empowering women economically, strengthening legal and social protection systems for survivors of gender-based violence, and fostering inclusive cultural attitudes through community engagement.
The session concluded with a collective call for Nigeria to accelerate the implementation of the 12 critical areas of the Beijing Declaration ranging from women’s political participation to health, education, and economic empowerment while ensuring that progress translates into meaningful change for women and girls across the country.