istions of this country: power must be equalized. Women have to assert their rights: I know we can all do it through solidarity."At the government and non-governmental level, there are several organisations that are concerned with gender issues. At the government level, the Better Life Programme for rural dwellers (BLP), the National Commission for Women (NCW) and the manifestos of the two political parties ("tranisition politics"). At the non-governmental leve, the roles of the National Council of Womens Socitites (NCWS) and the Nigerian Association of University Women (NAUW) have been most significant in addressing womens issues and alerting women to their roles in present society.The Better Life Programme was launched in September 1987. Its founding purpose was to work out effective strategies for mobilisng rural women for development and to exchange ideas on how best to maximise the productivity and contributions of rural women to the development of their communiites in general and their individual lot in particular (Abdullah, 1993). The rights included in the 1979 Constitution of Nigeria include: the right to be free from domination or oppression, the right to have an equal opporunity to participate in an benefit from the development of the country and the right not to be discriminated against on the basis of sex (building women). Likewise, the Federal Military Government established the National Convention for Women (NCW) began a political awareness campaign from July-August of 1991 of integrating women into the development process (Abdullah, 1993).At the non-governmental level, the NCWS and the NAUW have been most closely associated with the mobilistation of owmen in Nigeria. The National Council of Womens Socitites (NCWS), formed in 1959, is the officially recognised non-governmental womens organisation. "It is an umbrella organisation to which every non-governmental womens orgainistiona is expected to be affilated in ...
