Stakeholders advocate more support for women in political space
By Ruth Oketunde
The Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI), a non-governmental organisation and other stakeholders have called for more support for women in political space across the country.
They made the call at a one-day town hall meeting organised to strengthen the collaborations for women’s political leadership on Friday in Abuja.
Mr Olufemi Adebayo, Senior Programme Manager, Kimpact Development Initiative, said the meeting was aimed at strengthening collaborations for women political participation and charting a way forward.
Adebayo, who decried the low figure of women currently contesting in the 2023 general elections, said that it was important to raise advocacy to increase women participation in politics.
“We cannot shy away from the data which shows that it is abysmally low for women political participation as it is obvious.
“So we want to sustain the conversation towards 2023 elections and beyond.
“The list of candidates has been released and those that are vying, we already know them and for the females, they are not more than 10.2 per cent.
“So we want to amplify the benefits of women political participation or women political leadership so that we can have that benefit to Nigerians and for Nigerians to know that females are valid candidates to vote for,” he said.
He added that mentorship for young women who are interested in politics should be encouraged by all stakeholders.
He added that the organisation on its part would continue advocate for more women political participation even after the general elections.
Mrs Ndidi Okafor, Deputy Director, Civil Society Organisations Division, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), added that women should begin to contest for political positions from the grassroots level.
“Women should also begin to mentor younger women to join political parties, especially from the ward level.
“Governance is not all about those who go to the federal level but there is also something happening at the grassroots.
“If we have more women who are councilors, local government chairpersons, that will be wonderful,” she said.
Okafor added that the commission was prepared for the general elections and it had activated all the electoral processes to ensure free, fair and credible elections.
Earlier in her address, Mrs Mariam Jaji, Programme Analyst, Women’s Political Participation, UN-Women Nigeria, added that having women at the decision making table would be critical for national development.
Jaji added that barriers such as negative gender norms, lack of financial resources and lack of receptiveness of political parties, among others, had continued to impede women political participation and should be discouraged.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event also had a panel discussion which focused on “Increased Women’s Participation: A key prerequisite for gender equality and increased citizen’s participation in elections”.
NAN reports that the event had in attendance, traditional rulers, representative of the Ministry of Women Affairs, National Centre for Women Societies, female political candidates as well as various civil society organisations.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Dorcas Jonah/Kayode Olaitan
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