The Cardinal Onaiyekan Foundation for Peace (COFP) in collaboration with the Lux Terra Leadership Foundation (LTLF), with support from MacArthur Foundation organized a 3-day national workshop for women leaders from multi-faith and cultural backgrounds in Abuja Nigeria from 22nd – 26th of March, 2021on the theme “The Role of Women and Women Organizations in Promoting Integrity and Security in Nigeria”. For quite sometime now, Nigeria has been experiencing spike in kidnapping, banditry, insurgency, and other criminal behaviors due to bad governance and massive corruption. Several efforts and measures have been made to improve the situation, yet successive failures were recorded. Aimed at promoting good governance and security in the country, the workshop empowered over sixty-eight (68)women to speak with one voice on issues of concern regardless of their diverse background especially, at this period of increasing wave of insecurity in the country.
The workshop started with an opening ceremony &remarks by the president & Founder of COFP Foundation -His Eminence, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, the US Ambassador to Nigeria – Mary Beth Leonardi, the Honorable Minister for women Affairs – Dame Pauline Talen, the Executive Director of LUX Terra Leadership Foundation – Rev. Fr. Dr. George Ehusani, the Deputy Director MacArthur Foundation – Mr. Dayo Olaide, among others. The Honorable Minister in her speech described the workshop as timely as it is being held in the month of March, a month dedicated to women all over the universe. She challenged and encouraged the women to rise up to the task before them by playing their roles well as mothers. The Executive Director of COFP Foundation, Rev. Sr. Agatha Chikelue, DMMM, in her welcome remarks stated that the ordeal of women in the face of violence is uniquely different and must be addressed with “women-face” solutions which requires joint efforts. She thanked the Lux Terra Leadership Foundation for partnering with the Foundation and MacArthur Foundation for providing Funding.
The Workshop was attended by the leaders and representatives of twelve key faith-based and non-governmental women organizations across the country. Presentations were made on pertinent issues that border around women, integrity, security and nation building. The workshop gave women the opportunity to review the current security situation in Nigeria and vehemently condemned and rejected any acts of terrorism, kidnapping, banditry, child labor/abuse/trafficking, ritual killings, Boko–Haram insurgency, robbery and assassination for whatever reasons. The workshop ended with the adoption of a communique on the stand of women concerning security and political situation including the role that women need to play at this critical moment in the history of the nation.
