The event was a public lecture organized by the Kano Civil
Society Forum (KCSF), an umbrella body of over 200 women’s rights groups, in
conjunction with the Aminu Kano Centre for Democratic Studies of Bayero
University, to mark the 2022 International Women Day (IWD), which Danbatta
chaired yesterday in Kano.
While Danbatta was preparing for the programme event, like
present awards to various women who have distinguished themselves in different
endeavours, little did he know that the beneficiaries of various youth
entrepreneur skills and other empowerment progarmmes of both the Commission and
his personal charity foundation, Danbatta Charity Foundation (NCF), planned an
ambush to present their own prizes to him.
In the same vein, the CDS, Mumbayya House and KCSF also
presented their award of recognition to the EVC, leaving the NCC boss visibly
surprised.
Earlier, Danbatta told the gathering that he is a strong
believer of the potentiality of womenfolk and he has never hesitated to entrust
responsibilities to his female colleagues because he has always found them to
be very reliable when assigned with official tasks.
“I am a very, very strong believer of the tremendous
potentiality of members of the womenfolk. And they do it with such finesse, not
with any aggression like men do. Women, by their very nature, are tender. They
attend to whatever they are doing with finesse in a very careful manner. And
they deliver on targets given to them before deadlines,” he emphasised.
Speaking further, the EVC said, he has never given an
assignment to any of the women in the Commission, which was not delivered
before the deadline, “to the extent that, ladies and gentlemen, I am always
comfortable to have a woman chair committee, whenever there is a need”.
Danbatta, who said that respect for women is natural to him,
as it is one of the values his late mum inculcated in him, expressed his
delight about the fact that women are now working their way to the top echelon
of responsibilities in the country.
“We now have women in every sector of the economy, in every
area of human endeavour. We have them as engineers, medical doctors, seasoned
administrators, name it. In the commission I am heading we have 4 female
directors.
The Director of Zonal Operations is a woman. The Director of
Policy competition, and Economic Analysis is a woman, and also a lawyer. Equally, the Director of Legal and Regulatory
Services is a woman, and lastly the Director of Projects. And I am not saying this out of any
disrespect for the womenfolk. Far from that. Importantly, more than 50% of the
workforce in NCC is made up of women,” Danbatta informed his audience.
The NCC boss further stated that the Commission is
particularly committed to bridging the gender-oriented digital divide. Hence,
the NCC has put, in the front burner, the need to expose girls and young women
to more opportunities in the digital ecosystem, in line with the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU) resolution 70, which advocates gender
mainstreaming and promotion of gender equality, as well as the empowerment of
women through information and communications technology (ICT).
The EVC later commissioned the e-library of the Aminu Kano
Centre for Democratic Studies, an arm of Bayero University, which was donated
by the Commission in line with the Federal Government’s commitment to the
promotion of digital economy programmes.