BRIEF REPORT OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY RALLY HELD IN IKEJA   LAGOS NIGERIA

A rally was organized on 8th March 2010 by Women Arise, a non-governmental organization with the support of other groups and NGOs like Save Nigeria Group (SNG), The Real Woman Foundation, Project Alert, Christ the Ever-Present Help Ministry and others to mark the International Women’s Day.

The event which was covered by major TV stations in Nigeria had in attendance dignitaries like Prof. Wole Soyinka, Dr. Pat Utomi, Pastor Tunde Bakare, Comrade Joel Odumakin, Pastor Nike Adeyemi, Evangelist Elishama, and Mrs. Josephine Chukwuma amongst others.

The rally commenced at about 9.30am from Allen Avenue Ikeja, Lagos  Nigeria West Africa with the conveners singing solidarity songs and addressing the crowd who were in their hundreds wearing  white t-shirts with the inscription ‘Women’s Rights are Right’ boldly printed on them. A list of their requests was read and some speakers spoke on some specific issues like Gender equality, Electoral Reform, Policies affecting motherhood, Health etc.

After the speeches, the crowd walked down to the Governor’s Office at Alausa which was the next point of call chanting solidarity songs. On arrival, the Governor of Lagos state Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) had to take a short break from his Executive meeting to honour the crowd. The conveners presented the requests list to the Governor and he responded by saying he would pass the message across to the necessary quarters.

The crowd dispersed at about 1pm after the Governor’s address.

For photos of the event, please click here.