NAN-H-44
Women
By Monday Ijeh
Abuja, Aug. 1, 2017 (NAN) A university lecturer, Prof. Abdulhameed Ujo of the Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Abuja has lamented the declining representation in politics.
Ujo, who stated this on Tuesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, also expressed dismay over the rejection of the bills on affirmative action for women by the Senate.
NAN recalls that the bills, which seek to amend the constitution to provide for 35 per cent and 20 per cent affirmative action at the federal and state levels respectively, were rejected by the Senate.
He said the campaign for affirmative action over the years was because women had not been adequately represented, noting that the idea was to increase their representation.
Ujo called for the introduction of professional representation system for women, adding that African countries operating the system were in the range of 30 to 50 per cent in terms of women representation.
“What we have been saying in Nigeria is that if we want to improve women representation, the ideal thing to do is to introduce professional representation system otherwise they cannot go anywhere.
“For instance, Mrs Sarah Jibrin contested for the office of the President five times, and the last one was between her and former President Goodluck Jonathan.
“She got only one vote out of the whole PDP delegates that voted in that contest and that show how difficult it is for women to participate in elections.
“If you look at the Senate, out of 109 members, we have only eight women and the same percentage applies to the House of Representatives.
“So, women are not well represented and it is very dangerous, after all we have good number of them that are educated and have distinguished themselves in their various professions,” he said.
According to him, if we take the statistics of the performance level in the National Assembly, you will see that some men have not even come up with a motion since their election.
He said records available had shown that the few women legislators in the National Assembly were doing their best and had justified their role in politics.
“So, what I am trying to say here is that Nigerians should know that women empowerment is very important economically, socially and politically.
“There is no reason to be afraid of women and for me, a lot of them are educated and can handle any work,” he added. (NAN)
IMC/OSA/EEE
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Edited by Shittu Obassa/Ese E. Ekama