By Hou Akot Hou<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
National Deputy Minister of Agriculture has urged Northern Bahr El Ghazal State leaders to prioritize the empowerment of women and girls across all sectors.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Lily Akol Albino made her appeal to State Governor Simon Ober Mawut on Saturday during a consultative meeting held at the Palm Africa Hotel in Juba, organized by the Coordination Office and the state governor during his visit to Juba.<\/p>\n As a native of Northern Bahr El Ghazal, Ms. Akol observed that women are significantly lagging behind in various sectors, emphasizing the importance of recognizing and supporting their potential.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are many young women and girls in the state who aspire to grow professionally. If your leadership supports women and girls, they will be able to support themselves, their families, and the community at large,\u201d said Akol.<\/p>\n She highlighted the vulnerabilities faced by many women, who are often forced into unwanted marriages and deprived of their rights to realize their potential and aspirations.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is time for the leadership to recognize their importance and emancipate them,\u201d she asserted.<\/p>\n Akol refuted the notion that girls are merely a source of wealth for communities, urging a reevaluation of this perspective.<\/p>\n \u201cMany elderly individuals perceive educated women as a threat within families, believing they become unruly towards men and make decisions contrary to theirs. This isn’t true. Educated women can make decisions that benefit the family and society as a whole,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a need to enact laws that protect women and girls from practices that hinder their progress,\u201d Akol added.<\/p>\n In response, Governor Simon Ober stated that he is working on affirmative action to support women in leadership roles, noting that his administration has already employed several women.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I took office, the position of Speaker of Parliament was held by a woman. Some MPs conspired to remove her, but I rejected that and reinstated her. Additionally, I encouraged people with disabilities to nominate someone for the House of Laws, and I endorsed a woman from the three names they provided,\u201d Ober shared.<\/p>\n Governor Ober also revealed that his administration plans to allocate funds to support cooperatives, which will have their accounts opened with reputable banks.<\/p>\n \u201cI recently consulted with women\u2019s associations formed in Aweil and assured them they would receive funding to review their activities annually and return the money provided, as they will benefit from the interest. This money can then be given to other associations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n His administration, according to Ober, is particularly supportive of girls\u2019 education, with a School Support Fund initiative aimed at prioritizing girls.<\/p>\n The consultative meeting lasted for a day and brought together intellectuals from various fields based in Juba, including members of parliament, academics, military generals, and ministers from Northern Bahr El Gazal. They brainstormed ways to address critical issues facing the state.<\/p>\n The meeting concluded with a commitment to discuss further issues at an upcoming conference scheduled for December in Aweil Town, where politicians, government officials, diasporas, and people from all walks of life will convene.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Hou Akot Hou National Deputy Minister of Agriculture has urged Northern Bahr El Ghazal State leaders to prioritize the empowerment of women and girls across all sectors. Lily Akol Albino made her appeal to State Governor Simon Ober Mawut on Saturday during a consultative meeting held at the[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":36408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Lily-Albino-Akol-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36406"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36409,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36406\/revisions\/36409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}