The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Thursday called on women judges in the country to identify obstacles that hinder women advancement.
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Sanwo-Olu also urged them to strive for a future where women in the legal profession would stand on equal footing with their male counterpart.
The governor made the call while addressing the first South-West Zonal Conference of the National Association of Women Judges of Nigeria held at Marriot Hotel, GRA, Ikeja.
The theme of the conference was “Breaking Leadership Barriers for Women in Legal Profession”.
Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Mrs Bimbola Salu-Hundeyin, expressed joy that Nigerian women judges compete favourably and effectively with their counterparts globally in the dispensation of their sacred duties as arbiters.
The governor said women judges deserve to be celebrated for their resilience.
He commended Supreme Court Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun for sustaining the platform for women judges to confer and build a structure that would sustain the legal instrument of the state and the country.
“Your dedication and commitment to advancing women leadership in the legal profession are truly commendable and I am confident that this conference will provide robust solutions and forge new and workable strategies to bring about lasting and tangible change that you have constantly desired and would live forever in our lives,” Sanwo-Olu remarked.
The Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Kazeem Alogba, in his welcome address, said the female gender was becoming more successful and advancing in the legal profession.
Buttressing his point, Alogba stated that during the just concluded ‘Call to Bar’ held on March 7 in Abuja, he received into the Nigerian Bar, the overall best student of the year from the Nigerian Law School for this year, one Lawal Aminat Odunayo, a young woman.
Earlier in her opening address, the President of NAWJN, Justice Kekere-Ekun, said there was still much work to be done notwithstanding that the country had come a long way in terms of women assuming leadership positions in the legal profession.
She listed some of the challenges confronting women in the legal profession as domestic impediments, difficulty in maintaining a work/life balance, lack of support in the home, working conditions that are not favourable to women, among others.
“It is therefore imperative to recognise the invaluable need for the participation of women in policy making and to strive to ensure their inclusivity in the promotion of policies that are gender sensitive and which provide greater access to justice,” she said.
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