The President, Aspire Women Forum (AWF), Barr. Zainab Buba Marwa has said that one in four drug abusers in Nigeria is a woman, coupled with the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown exposed the alarming numbers of domestic and gender-based violence, especially against women.
Marwa said this at a news conference in Abuja ahead of the NGO’s Happy Conference scheduled to take place on November 12, 2020.
The President stated that the AWF’s Happy Conference 2020 is designed for women to find both happiness and purpose-fulfillment in their chosen endeavours.
She said that research had shown that there is a “deep surge of suicide, murder, despondency, hopelessness and drug abuse among women.
The Happy Conference 2020 is created to foster dialogue among women of all ages as encouraged by the Beijing Platform for Action, ‘where the older generation will share their financial, emotional and spiritual (FES) regimen and their experiences in discovering their purpose, with the younger participants’.
While the younger participants on the other hand, who have excelled in various fields will share stories, that will inspire other participants.
The upcoming event is expected to draw a large number of participants and will have notable women from media, healthcare, governance, leadership and others as part of the panel.
The Aspire Women Forum (AWF) is a non-profit, non-religious, non-partisan organisation based in Nigeria, with the vision to be the foremost forum for igniting gender equity by advocating and engaging in areas of Motivational Behavioural Coaching (MBC), and an inclusive politics advocacy through knowledge impartation and financial inclusion, which in the words of the NGO’s Founder, “a forum of women, for women, by women”.
Expected guests and keynote speakers at the event include the First Lady, Dr. (Mrs) Aisha Muhammadu Buhari; Dame Pauline Tallen, Minister of Women Affairs; Chief (Mrs) Moji Makanjuola, veteran broadcaster and ED, International Society of Media in Public Health; Maimuna Abubakar, Founder, Tozaki TV/Magazine and the Chairman of NiPOST; and Ene Obi, Action Aid Representative.
