International Labour Organisation says it is partnering the Nigeria Labour Congress to develop a Roadmap for mainstreaming gender policy for the country. Inviolata Chinyangara, the ILO workers specialist, said this on Wednesday in Abuja at a two-day workshop on ‘Defining a Roadmap for Reviewing the NLC Gender Policy’. The ILO organised the programme in collaboration with NLC and Fredrich Ebert Stiftung (FES). Ms Chinyangara said the review of the gender policy was imperative as the existing policy was developed in 2003 and long overdue. According to her, gender issues have evolved over time and are becoming the heart of sustainable development worldwide. “We cannot do any programme or any activity or any developmental intervention without mainstreaming gender. So, that is why the ILO and FES are collaborating with the NLC to see how we can develop a roadmap for updating the NLC gender policy,” she said.
According to her, our role is to provide the technical support and the information about which standards should be mainstreamed. Ms Chinyangara said the ILO had congratulated the government of Nigeria and NLC for adopting gender conventions on equality and non-discrimination and ending violence and harassment in the world of work. According to her, we now want to ensure that these conventions are also cascaded and mainstreamed in the NLC’s gender policy. Salamata Aliu, chairwoman of the NLC Women Commission, noted that the review of the congress gender policy was long overdue. According to her, the one we are currently looking at came about in 2003. (NAN)
