By Linus Aleke, Abuja
The ECOWAS Commissioner for Human Development and Social Affairs, Prof Fatou Sow Sarr, said gender and LGBTQ is a big lie and is a manipulation for political reasons, adding that gender is a science but sexual orientation is politics of the West.
Sarr said this, during an interactive session with ECOWAS Commissioners on the implementation of the programmes of their departments, at the ongoing first ordinary session of ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja.
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Noting that masculine and feminine roles are societal constructs, Sarr said the issue of gender is a science and there is a political agenda today in the world with regard to the issues of gender.
According to her, in my department, nobody will come and tell me about LGBTQ. No partner will tell me about LGBTQ, I will not bend my back when it comes to partners.
While responding to concerns raised by some members of the parliament on the threat by the West to withdraw funding to ECOWAS if sexual orientation was not taken seriously in the region, she explained that contrary to the speculations that 70 per cent of funds to the regional bloc is not from European partners.
She noted that it is only 30 per cent that comes from partners, stressing that the remaining 70 per cent is the contributions from members states.
Conceptualising the term, the ECOWAS Commissioner, noted that sexual orientation is defined by Britannica as the enduring pattern of an individual’s emotional, sexual, and/or romantic attraction.
Sarr, noted that sexual orientation, is often divided into three components – attraction, behaviour, and self-identification.
She stressed that there are myriad of ways to describe sexual orientation, but the most common include heterosexual, being attracted to the opposite gender; homosexual, being attracted to the same gender; and bisexual, being attracted to more than one gender.
But while responding to inquiries from some members of the parliament over the controversies surrounding the Samoa agreement recently signed by Nigeria, she said: “I am a specialist on gender issues and my experience on the topic span over 30 years. We believe that gender is a science. The imposition of sexual orientation is a political agenda the Europeans want to impose on us. We should not allow them to succeed.
“As long as I am around as the ECOWAS Commissioner for Human Development and Social Affairs, nobody will tell me anything about LGBTQ Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer”.
Explaining the concept of gender, Sarr said only the male and female genders were recognised in Africa, stressing that the two were characterized by their assigned roles in society.
