The Federal Government of Nigeria has been urged to give equal political participation to women as a fundamental way to advance human capacity and development.
The stakeholders on women’s rights and development made the call at the national event of the 65th Session of the Commission on the status of women held in Abuja.
The session with the theme, “Institutionalising women’s equal and increased participation in Leadership, Governance and Decision making – case studies and reflections from Nigeria and Africa” was set to address issues relating to women leadership position in governance.
The United Nations Resident Coordinator, Mr Edward Kallon, while speaking at the session decried low participation of women in political offices and decision making positions in Nigeria.
Mr. Kallon, represented by Ms Comfort Lamptey, UN Women Country representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, said reports indicated that Nigerian women face resistance in their political participation, hence, legislative reforms were needed to support their political inclusion.
“Unless significant barriers to achieving gender equality were removed, the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, (SDGs), will continue to be elusive.
“In Nigeria, women’s currently occupy less than five percent of elected offices at the federal level because they face overwhelming resistance to their political participation including through violence, gender based, religious and cultural norms and the lack of adequate financial resources to fund election campaigns.
He said the dialogues is a unique opportunity for building convergence among governments, civil society and technical and financial partners hence providing a platform for Nigeria to examine achievements and challenges.
The Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen called on women in positions to support and mentor the girl child as a way of sustaining the achievement made in women participation public life.
She also encouraged women to continue to contribute their quota towards national development while trusting on President Muhammadu Buhari’s promises that by 2023, Nigerian women would have cause to smile and from the look of things.
“Women’s presence in the next election will reflect a positive change as we are fine tuning strategies to reach out to the polital parties,” the Minister, said.
She commended the president for his support and promises which made to women even as he lends his voice to the current amendment of the constitution in favour of women’s political and leadership participation.
At the event which was attended physical and virtual, a generational equality video, “No woman, no Naija” which serve as an item to encourage women participation in politics come 2023 was launched.
