IWD: Government urged to increase women political participation

Juliana Francis

In commemoration of the International Women’s Day, the Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP) has called on the Nigerian Government to amend the constitution and enact policies to increase women political participation in Nigeria.

The National Coordinator of LEDAP, Chino Obiagwu, said that Nigeria has one of the lowest rates of female representation in government across Africa.

He said: “Women’s political representation has steadily declined since 2007. During the 2019 general elections, women won only 4 percent of the seats in the National Assembly and State House of Assembly, a number far below the Global Average of 24.9 percent, Africa Regional Average of 24.4 percent and West African Sub-Regional Average of 15.5 percent for women’s representation in politics.”

Obiagwu noted that no woman was elected governor in any state and the number of female deputy governors has now reduced from six to three.

He said that according to the International Parliamentary Union (IPU), Nigeria ranks 180th out of 193 countries on the issue of women’s participation in politics.

“The benefits of women in leadership positions cannot be overemphasized. During the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the majority of the countries that were successful in curtailing the spread of the virus and responding to its health and social-economic impacts were countries headed by women,” said Obiagwu.

Obiagwu said that LEDAP has since inception, advocated for gender equality and promotion of the rights of women in public and private places as well as championed increased political participation of women in Nigeria.

Obiagwu said that in line with this year’s International Women’s Day theme: ‘Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world,’ LEDAP believed that to promote women’s rights and fully leverage the potential of women’s leadership in Nigeria, the perspectives of all women and girls, irrespective of diversities must be encouraged.

He stated: “Women and girls must be educated in order to gain the skills needed to take on leadership roles at the local and national levels. In order to realize this, LEDAP in partnership with Malala fund is advocating for the implementation of the right to free basic education in Nigeria. LEDAP believes that education of the girl child is the key to sustainable political, social, and economic development. LEDAP challenges the National Assembly to amend the constitution and provide legislative backing to the Nigeria Gender Policy 2006 which provides that at least 35% of the political posts be reserved for women to increase women’s political participation in Nigeria, and to take immediate steps to ensure that the Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill is passed into law because women need to be part of all decision-making processes that affect their lives.”