Women’s untimely deaths caused by economic marginalisation –Aregbesola

Wife of the Governor, Osun State, Mrs. Sherifat Aregbesola

Wife of the Osun State Governor, Mrs. Sherifat Aregbesola, has said that at the root of violence against women and untimely death among them is economic marginalisation.

The governor’s wife said this in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, according to a statement on Sunday.

She spoke at the graduation ceremony of 1,500 women who were trained in a skill acquisition programme. She stressed that unless poverty was effectively tackled, the negative practices against women and girls would continue.

According to her, Osun State is waging war against economic marginalisation among women and  women trafficking  by fighting poverty through empowerment programmes.

She said, “Poverty in Nigeria has peculiar characteristics unlike what obtains in other climes. In Nigeria, there is what can aptly be describes as feminisation of poverty; the poverty here has a woman face with more than 70 per cent women living below poverty line. This condition has predisposed women to economic hardship, social marginalisation, untimely death, violence and diseases, among others.

“Poverty has also heightened the girl-child abuse through practices like child labour, child marriage and trafficking of girls for sexual trade in and outside the country. But Osun State is tackling these uncomplimentary practices by liberating our women from poverty by equipping them with necessary skills to make them economically relevant.”

Aregbesola said that Nigeria might not attain the Millennium Development Goals except the nation taps into the resources available in the womenfolk.

The Osun State Commissioner for Women and Children Affairs, Mrs. Mofolake Adegboyega, lauded women in the state for being industrious, saying that they turned out in large number for the skill acquisition programm