Stakeholders advocate increased women representation in governance

The National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), in collaboration with the Canadian Government, has canvassed greater representation of women in leadership and political roles across the country.

The Institute bemoaned the glaring gender gap in Nigeria’s existing political environment, noting that women only make up 10 percent of members of the National Assembly, in contrast to other African nations like South Africa and Rwanda.

Titlayo Daniel, NILDS representative, stated this during a two-day UN women training held in Sagamu and Ikenne-Remo local government areas of Ogun State.

The training themed, ‘Enhancing Representation: Female Legislators Constitueney Outreach in Nigeria’, had 300 women from various groups in attendance.

Daniel maintained that women, when included in leadership roles despite facing several obstacles, promote more inclusive policies, tackle poverty and prioritize issues related to education and health, among others.

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She noted that to this end, NILDS, with support from UN Women, has provided trainings for women politicians to help build their capacities on gender equality.

Daniel said, “It is no more a news that from the local to the national level, women’s leadership and political participation are restricted.

“When women are included in decision-making processes, societies prosper. It has been demonstrated globally that women in leadership promote more inclusive policies, tackle poverty and inequality more effectively, and prioritize issues related to education, healthcare, and social justice.

“The current political landscape still reflects the stark gender disparity.

“As of now, women make up less than 10% of the members of the National Assembly. This means that the voices of more than half of our population are largely absent in critical decision-making bodies.

“This is rather an embarrassing statistics for Nigeria as the giant of Africa when compared with other African countries such as Rwanda with 61.3%, South Africa with 46.2%, Malawi with 41%, Sierra Leone with 30.4% of women representation in Parliament.

“We back gender equality advocates in calling on political parties, governments and others to do their part in empowering women. NILDS with support from UN Women advocates for legislative and constitutional reforms to ensure women’s fair access to political spheres.”

In her remarks, the lawmaker representing Ikenne, Sagamu and Remo North Federal Constituency, Adewunmi Onanuga, called for more participation of women in politics, urging them to look inward for opportunities rather than segregating themselves.

Similarly, Abosede Erinle-Bright, a community leader in Sagamu LGA, stressed that education plays a significant part when selecting who to be entrusted with political powers and advised mothers to prioritize investing in the education of their female child.