Background of the Ministry

The Federal Ministry of Women Affairs (FMWA) formerly known as the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development (FMWASD), was established, ab initio, as the National Commission for Women through Decree 42 of 1989 and was upgraded to a full-fledged Ministry in 1995 by the Federal Government following the sustained campaign for gender equality the world over. The need to recognize the critical role of women in national development agenda and the protection of the rights of women took global stage after the UN Convention that resolved to eliminate discrimination against women. The 1995 Beijing Declaration further emphasized and strengthened the resolution.

The United Nations has worked with women movements globally with the aim of realizing the universal gender equality Agenda. The Commission on the Status of Women was one of the first bodies established by the United Nations from inception and member nations were enjoined to establish international mechanisms for the advancement of women. Consequently, several International Conferences and Summits in the last two decades gave credence to improving the status of women. It is in this context that the Ministry of Women Affairs was created. However, in 2019, the Federal Government created another Ministry called the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development (FMHADMSD), in order to cater for other needs of the society. As a result, the Social Development component of the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs was moved to the newly created Ministry, giving rise to what is now known as the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs.

Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development was created consequent upon of the response to The United Nations agreement to establish Institutional Mechanisms for the advancement of Women and Women matters.

It is a product of efforts established through a Decree in 1989 giving rise to the National Commission for Women. This however was the initiative of the wife of the then Head of State (Dr) Mrs Maryam Babangida of blessed memory.

The Commission though recognized as a Government Institution, its activities were rather ad-hoc with no specific and adequate budgetary allocation. The wife of the Head of State then dictated the pace of activities in the Commission with the creation of her Better life Programme for Rural Women.

In 1995, the Commission for Women was upgraded to a full-fledged Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, which meant that Nigeria had achieved one of the critical areas of concern of the Beijing Platform for Action.

The activities of the Ministry, again largely influenced by the dictates of the wife of the Head of State at that time, Mrs Maryam Sani Abacha who came up with her pet project; the Family Support and Economic Advancement Programme.

Indeed, like the Women Commission, resource allocation in the form of budgetary provision was very meagre, barely enough to pay the Salary of staff.

Intervention by the First Lady's programmes were basically welfarist in nature, targeting Women for their immediate needs without tackling the age-long problem of lack of integration of gender awareness and competence into mainstream development planning. This arrangement brought a lot of Institution credibility gap, which negatively affected the Ministry in many ways. For instance, when the Commission was upgraded to a Ministry Status, it was not really at par with other Ministries and therefore lacking the requisite institutional identity and resource base. Other problems were lack of adequate budget allocations and a recognized technical cadre. The net effect of this credibility gap has been that the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development is not viewed as an equal government outfit with other Ministries making its gender mainstreaming work even more difficult to pursue.

In line with Government's repositioning and reform agenda for better service delivery in the Country; the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development came up with a clearer vision and mission statement as follows:

Vision

"To help build a Nigerian Society that guarantees equal access to social, economic and wealth creation opportunities to all, irrespective of gender, places premium on protection of the child, the aged and persons with disabilities; focuses attention of key operators in both private and public sectors on mainstreaming the concerns of these groups of people in national development process".

Our Mission

Organizational Structure