The World Rural Women’s Day celebration which held across the world on November 19, 2021 was commemorated in Port Harcourt at the Aladumo Miracle Hall, along Aba Road amid pomp and pageantry.
It was an occasion to relish as the women, who came majorly from the hinterlands, danced and rejoiced with the knowledge of their roles in agriculture, sustainable development and food security.
With this year’s theme as “Rural Women Deserve A Voice In Global Development Agenda”, the Nigeria Association of Rural Women (NARW), Rivers State chapter, joined their counterparts all over the world and celebrated the day with a Global Peace Education Conference For a Sustainable World with an exhibition of Nigeria’s staple foods, dried sea foods, lobsters, prawns and coral beads.
To signpost the import of the event which was graced by the Hon. Commissioner for Health in Rivers State, Professor Chike Princewill with Prof. Jessica Ezekiel Hart as Special Guest of Honour; and Rev. Mrs. Favour Anagha among others, the women also made their voices heard and left none in doubt that they are a dynamic agent of social change and youth economic empowerment force.
Speaking at the occasion, the President of the Nigeria Association of Rural Women (NARW) and convener, Rev. Dr. Ada Amoji, JP, said the theme of the conference, Global Peace Education could not have been more appropriate to make the desired impact.
The NARW President said the main objective of the celebration is to create a happy and sustainable world for generations unborn.
“We are also celebrating to improve the living standard of rural women worldwide, who are the backbone of subsistence farming in every community; to improve food production and feed the nations of the world with nutritionally balanced family diet; to be beneficiaries of global development agenda including formal education and nonformal education on social and economic empowerment of rural women, among others”, she said.
Dr. Amoji further disclosed that the World Rural Women’s Day highlights a variety of agriculture related activities to show the outside world how much rural women contribute to society through the multiple roles they play in agriculture, sustainable development and security.
Revealing that the NARW was founded in Port Harcourt in 1983 at Mary Slessor Memorial Presbyterian Church to bring succor to the marginalized rural women, Dr. Amoji said its mission is to expose rural women to development, education and strategies that will stimulate socio-political growth and economic empowerment of rural women.
“The organisation’s heartbeat is to make rural women masters of their own destiny and we are committed to works of righteousness, development and peace”, she stated, adding that NARW is affiliated to Associated country Women of the World, an English NGO and largest in the world.
