Nigeria’s vice president-elect, Sen. Kashim Shettima, says the Asiwaju Bola Tinubu-led administration will give priority to gender-based issues.
Shettima made this known on Saturday in Abuja at the reading session of a book written by a former Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Usman.
The title of the book is “Stepping on Toes, My Odyssey at the Nigerian Ports Authority”.
Shettima commended the author of the book while expressing the willingness of their administration to be gender-friendly.
He said: “She is an iron lady; I don’t think I have the courage to write such a book. Be that as it may, I am here in solidarity with our sister. We need to show empathy and support for our women.
“There is a popular saying among the people of Ghana that if you educate a man, you have educated an individual, if you educate a woman, you have educated a nation.
“Be rest assured that the incoming administration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu will be gender-friendly.
“He was the first governor to appoint a female as his deputy; he is also the first person to appoint a woman as a Chief Judge of a state.’
He said, “Be rest assured that we will observe the rule of law.”
The Vice President-elect also encouraged Nigerians to imbibe a healthy reading culture.
He said: “We need to read to know what is happening in the world, our reading culture in this part of the world is poor, people hardly read.
“At times, I buy books just to show solidarity with authors. I spend up to N500,000 at once just in solidarity with authors, I buy books and share them with friends and family members.
“People find it easy to spend a fortune to buy Apple wristwatches and so on but hardly do we buy books. We may not be authorities on everything but we should be knowledgeable about everything.”
Also, former Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke, commended the author for doing a great job by sharing her side of the story.
Adoke noted that he could relate to his ordeal as he was also a victim of the same circumstances.
Earlier, the author, Usman detailed her experience with the former minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, and other issues while heading the ports as the first woman to occupy that position.
She said that she knew that she decided not to be the victim that got accused of embezzling public funds.
“When you call out big people that have networks, automatically know that you will always come under verbal attacks everywhere.
“So, I decided that I had to tell that story rather than keep quiet and be fingered as the person who looted the NPA.
“I felt it was important that I put the records straight in the public space. I had to put this out there to encourage others; I love to read memoirs across the board.”
