Politics
By Fatima Mohammed-Lawal
Ilorin, June 21, 2024 (NAN) Women political aspirants in Kwara and civil society groups on Friday in Ilorin called for the implementation of 35 per cent affirmative action for female politicians in Nigeria.
The group, under the auspices of Women Political Participation (WPP) programme, spoke at a one-day workshop on Strategic Advocacy for Increased Women Participation in Politics (SURGE-UP).
The workshop was organised by the Women Environment and Youth Development Initiative (WOYODEV) with support from the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and funded by the USAID and UKAID.
While speaking during the event, Mrs Tosin Apiriola-Ajayi, the Executive Director of WOYODEV, emphasised on the need for women to be elected into political and appointive public service positions in Nigeria.
She said this was as contained in the extant National Gender Policy (NGP).
The Executive Director observed that Nigeria does not have a specific quota system for women in politics in terms of programmes and policies.
Apiriola-Ajayi stated that women make up a significant portion of the electorate in Nigeria, adding that the country’s political landscape has historically been male-dominated.
“For instance, no female Governors were elected in the2023 elections, a pattern that has remained constant since the return to democracy in 1999”, she said.
She pointed out that the SURGE-UP project thus aimed to reignite gender-responsive policies and programmes in Kwara.
”This is with the goal of achieving a strong gender quota legislation for
women in parliamentary elections and other local elections in the
state.
“Also, it aims to increase women’s participation and representation in
politics in Kwara through high level advocacy for gender-responsive policies and programmes towards the 2027 elections”.
Apiriola-Ajayi said the project aimed to achieve this by building strong partnership with female and male parliamentarians, party leaders and community gatekeepers.
”This will be with the use of strategic awareness-raising, editorials and public campaigns as veritable tools.”
She also said the objectives include reigniting the political will of parliamentarians in Kwara to sponsor and facilitate bills and legislations.
”This will enable them to advocate a strong quota for women in coming elections at national and state levels.”
The Executive Director said the group expected such results as “bills that seek strong quota for women in political offices initiated in state and national assemblies.
“Bills promoting women’s participation in politics and specific financial cap for local and national elections progressed”.
She also called for increased skills and knowledge of aspiring women politicians, leading to increased participation of women in politics and a higher number of women seeking public office.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the forum agreed that the upcoming Local Government elections is an opportunity to ensure women emerge through party primaries in Kwara.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
FATY/OLAL
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(Edited by Olawale Alabi)
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