2023: reserve  50% of political posts for  women – Tallen

Favour Ishember, Abuja

The Honourable Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen had

The Minister who  made this call at the media briefing on the status of women inclusion and participation in governance at all levels of national development in Abuja  said, Women’s participation is central and crucial to our national growth and development.

Mainstreaming of the gender into party politics at all levels, Dr. Tallen said there is aurgent need to  reform political structures, which excludes women from participating in decision-making, and make them amenable to equality and social justice principles including the sensitisation of the traditional councils to the rights of women to participate in politics.

As the process towards the 2023 Election year  starts in earnest with aspirants picking forms for various positions under the various political parties ranging from Presidential, Gubernatorial, National Assembly, State Assembly to Local Government, the Minister said :”This is therefore the time to take stock of how the Political actors and gate keepers have fared in rewarding the sacrifices of Nigerian Women to further determine how best to support their ambition or not.

“You would recall that shortly after the landmark judgement presided over by Justice Donatus Okorowo of the Federal High Court Abuja on 6th April 2022 in favour of the full implementation of the 35 per cent Affirmative Action of all appointments for women enshrined in the National Gender Policy (NGP), I had cause to assure the populace, particularly Nigerian women of His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari’s full commitment in creating a gender responsive and equitable society” she said.

Regrettably, Dr Tallen noted that women are are still largely absent from national and local decision-making bodies; they struggle to have a voice in issues and concerns affecting them, despite the advantage of their numerical strength of 49.2 per cent of Nigeria’s 2016 estimated population of 193 million people and the difference they make in ushering in a new government,

She opined that the  success of the Gender Policy Framework  depends on the extent to which it attracts high level support in government at all levels. This, she said,  requires that the highest political level of governance must embrace gender equality principles and practice for any meaningful change to occur. Even at the global level gender has been adopted as a yardstick for measuring progress in development of the society, she said.

In the words of the Honourable Minister “‘ Over the years, there has been a sustained poor representation and gender imbalance of women in critical areas, when measured against certain standards, such as the number of women who vote in elections; the number of appointive and elective positions held by women; number of women related policies implemented by Government; and so on since the inception of democratic rule in 1999. For instance, currently in the House of Representatives, out of 360 Members, only 18 are women representing about 4.61%; Senate has 8 women out of 109 members representing 7.34%. The same trend, even worse runs down all levels of governance in the States and Local Government Areas”

The Minister therefore blamed the country’s low investment and slow progress in some of the crucial sectors of human development outcomes, such as Security and Peace Processes, Health, Education, ICT development, Finance, Trade and Investments, amongst others to  inadequate number of women in decision-making positions.

Hence,  the demand for full and equitable participation of Women in Public Life and Leadership space in Nigeria has consistently dominated public discourse due to the key role they play in the political process, she streed.

” Nigerian women say enough is enough, we must change the narratives. We can no longer fold our arms and be used to canvass for votes. Going forward, we must sign a pact with prospective candidates. On twinning we stand as already stated by the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Aisha Buhari during her Dinner with Political Aspirants on the wings of the 2022 If-Tar at the State House”

  “Nigerian Women are still bitter at their recent shoddy treatment by the Legislature when the 5-Gender Related Bills were rejected despite assurances. It is no longer business as usual. Those who have ears should listen and make amends. The Nigerian Society boast of well educated women in all fields of human endeavour. They are assertive, beautiful, benevolent, creative, disciplined, diligent, dependable, dynamic, hardworking, innovative, reliable, resourceful and skilful.

  “This is therefore a clarion call and I will like to state on behalf of Nigerian Women that we will no longer support or vote blindly in the coming 2023 general elections”

 “Let it be on record that only Political Parties that fill in at least 35% women representation in both elective and appointive positions and provide for women in their party structures and manifestoes will be supported”

“We will strengthen accountability mechanisms for voices of women and responsiveness to women’s needs as well as those of men.  The fundamental principle of equality is enshrined at least in intent, in the 1999 Constitution Section 17 provides that “…the state social order is founded on the ideals of freedom, equality and justice.” Section 15:2 expressly “…prohibits discrimination on the grounds of origin, sex, religion, status, ethnic or linguistic association or ties”

Finally, to ensure that it is no longer business as usual, we have started the process of building a Dashboard to display all the pro-women projects initiated and executed by the 36 States of the Federation” she said.