By; Juliana Katung, Kaduna.
The Speaker Kaduna State House of Assembly, Alhaji Aminu Abdullahi Shagali on Wednesday promised to fast track the passage of all the three gender sensitive bills before the Assembly including the Child Rights Act in two weeks time.
Alhaji Shagali gave the assurance when the team of Gender Technical Unit (GTU) Kaduna chapter paid him a courtesy visit in his office, saying that the Assembly is out to initiate and pass laws that will have direct bearing on the lives of the citizens without any gender bias.
According to him, the state is privilege to have an organization that will champion the cause of gender sensitive issues most especially laws.
He said as part of the law makers’ commitment, he has directed that an office be giving to the unit within the Assembly premises to ensure immediate take off of the unit activities.
Also speaking, the chairman, House Committee on Women Affairs and social Development Alhaji Halilu Dangana commended the initiators for a job well done, noting that it is not easy to come up with idea that have direct impact on the future generation.
Earlier, the chairman of the Gender Technical Unit, (GTU) Kaduna, Dr. Lydia Umar said the GTU is a novel internal legislative and capacity building mechanism towards Gender responsive laws in Nigeria and was first establish at the National Assembly in 2010.
The chairman who is also the Executive Director Gender Awareness Trust (GAT) said the initiative has a steering Committee composed of the National Assembly Committees on Women Affairs and Social Development; Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, the National Development Centres as well as the key women focused Civil Society Organizations.
According to her, the GTU which is charge with the responsibility of providing links between legislators and civil society groups, corporate organizations as well as individuals doing gender work in Nigeria, among others, will have a steering committee compose from the same state Organizations mention above.
According to her Kaduna State is the first state out of the 36 states of the country to established the GTU and that it is already very effective at the National Assembly.
