Annual August Meeting
Tomorrow 9th August 2010, millions of Igbo women would gather in their various communities and parishes in Igboland to convene their annual August meeting.
In the recent past this annual gathering had attracted some negative comments as being merely an excuse for over pampered women from abroad to come home and display their adornments to the chagrin of their home based counterparts; occasion for ostentation and display of affluence. Nollywood took this a step further in its satirical rendition of this gathering in a movie entitled August Meeting.
It is our belief however that this gathering of such a powerful constituency serves more useful purposes and has such enormous potential than depicted. This year's meeting is coming at a most auspicious occasion as our nation seeks to re-discover its souls and re-invent itself, through the conduct of credible and popular elections.
We call on the women to go beyond the mundane and go for the big one by including in this year's agenda; women voter education and political empowerment. Popular participation in the electoral process is the much needed panacea to an era of irresponsible governance that has impoverished the nation. The women would also by so doing, made practical contribution to the ideals of the Beijing conference on affirmative action for women.
We wish them fruitful deliberations.
Maxi Okwu
National Chair CPP