Lagos Employs 70 Women As Truck Drivers.

The Lagos State Government on Friday said
it had just employed 70 women as truck
drivers, as part of efforts to empower women
in the state.
The Deputy Gov., Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire,
announced this at a news conference in Ikeja
organised to mark Gov. Babatunde Fashola`s sixth
year in office.
She said that the women had been trained on
driving large vehicles before they were deployed to
the Lagos State Waste Management Authority
(LAWMA) as waste truck drivers.
"We are also considering training and empowering
women as Taxi drivers. We are currently examining
some security risks that these women might face
driving taxis.
"But we hope to partner with some hotels in the
state on how we can attach some of these female
taxi drivers to them, so that we can track who they
are dropping off, in case there is a problem," she
said.
Orelope-Adefulire, who oversees the Ministry of
Women Empowerment, stressed that gender
equality and women empowerment were top on the
agenda of the Fashola administration.
She said the government had established a number
of skills acquisition centres across the state, saying
that thousands of women had acquired trade skills
at such centres, to set up their businesses.
The deputy governor added that women
entrepreneurs who were in need of tools and
equipment for their trades had also been assisted
by the government with such needs.
She said the government, through the ministry, had
facilitated micro-credits for small-scale business
women, to assist them grow their businesses.
Orelope-Adefulire said the government was making
steady progress at attaining the 35 per cent
Affirmative Action with the appointment of more
women into top positions in the state.
"Though we are yet to attain 35 per cent Afirmative
Action, we are aggressively working towards
it.Today. we have more and more women occupying
top positions in government.
"68 judges, 92 magistrates and 52 Permanent
Secretaries is a indeed progress. We are still
working harder and we will surely surpass the 35
per cent target at the end of the day," she said.
The deputy governor, however, decried the growing
cases of domestic violence in the state, saying that
the government was taking appropriate steps to
control the trend.