The Bauchi State House of Assembly has passed a bill to establish sanitary pad banks in schools, correctional facilities, and community centres across the state.
Speaker Abubakar Y. Suleiman commended Women for Women International (WfWI), ASHH Foundation, Child is Gold Foundation, and other civil society organisations (CSOs) for their advocacy efforts. He reaffirmed the House’s commitment to women’s development and expressed optimism that the initiative would support indigent adolescent girls and women struggling to afford sanitary pads.
Chairman of the House Committee on Health, Lawal Dauda, highlighted that Bauchi is the first state in Nigeria to pass such a bill. He noted that free sanitary pad banks would help tackle menstrual hygiene challenges and reduce absenteeism among schoolgirls, female inmates, and disadvantaged women.
ASHH Foundation’s Executive Director, Ambassador Comfort Attah, expressed gratitude to the Bauchi State government, legislature, and CSOs for their contributions. She stressed the need for Governor Bala Mohammed to sign the bill into law.
Similarly, Elizabeth George, Executive Director of Child is Gold Foundation, described the bill’s passage as a landmark achievement for menstrual hygiene advocacy and women’s rights. She emphasized that the initiative would improve menstrual hygiene management and remove barriers to education for indigent girls and women.
The bill now awaits the governor’s assent.
