Stakeholders of women’s inclusion in politics have called for quota that ensures that seats are reserved for women to attain political offices.
The stakeholders made the call at an event on Wednesday in Lagos.
The event was organised by Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI), in collaboration with UN Women, and funded by the United Kingdom International Development and Canadian Government.
The event was tagged: “Stronger Together: Special Seats for a more Inclusive Democracy”.
Dr. Ejiro Otive-Igbuzor, Managing Director, Emerald Int’l Development Services, said gender equality was a development issue, and no society will develop until the women were included in leadership.
According to Otive-Igbuzor, all the sustainable development goals (SDGs) require gender equality to achieve them.
Otive-Igbuzor, who is also a Social Inclusion Expert, said though Nigeria was committed to inclusion, considering the constitution and the national gender policy, about half of the population have been left out.
According to her, one of the indicators that measure how well a nation is doing is the proportion of women in parliaments.
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“In the 9th Assembly, on the House of Representatives that has 366, we had 13 women. 13 over 360, that’s how poorly we were doing in the 9th Assembly.
“In the 10th Assembly, there is a marginal increase to 17. I think we lost one person, so we now have 16 out of 360,” she said.
Noting that there was not much difference when compared to the House of Assembly, she said Nigeria wasn’t doing well when compared to other African nations such as Ghana, Sierra Leone and Senegal.
Otive-Igbuzor said there had never been a level playing field for women, even the qualified ones, to participate in politics in Nigeria.
Referring to a study conducted by McKinsey Global Institute, she said: “Exclusion of women from governance costs Nigeria up to $90 billion in GDP growth.”
She recommended the quotas, reserved seats in constitution or in electoral laws, to compensate for the long years of marginalisation that women have faced.
Noting that countries including Kenya, Ugandan, Tanzania and Rwanda use such systems, she added that there are legal candidate quotas where political parties nominate a set minimum.
Earlier, the Chairman, House Committee on Electoral Matters, Adebayo Balogun, said in spite of their significant contributions in politics, women still remained under-presented.
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Balogun said the lawmakers in the House of Representatives had passed a bill seeking one special seat to be given to women in every state.
The lawmaker, however, urged women to look at positions at the grassroots level, rather than the upper echelon, so they could get enough experience to compete at the top.
“Let’s start from our wards to make the women councillors, House of Assembly members,” he said.
The Chairman, Conference of Speakers, Adebo Ogundoyin, expressed concerns over the provision of special seats exclusively for women, noting that it could be a drawback for women’s inclusion in politics.
Ogundoyin said it might limit women’s stake in political offices, adding that the main issue was that the number of women interested in politics is way less than the men.
He, however, pledged the Conference of Speakers’ support to ensure that the constitution was amended in favour of one seat per state for women inclusion in the National Assembly.
The Head of Editorial Operations, NAN, Lagos office, Mrs Ifeyinwa Omowole, said there was a need for women to become executive members of political parties, to help when decisions are being made.
Omowole called for more engagements and continuous conversations regarding the inclusion of women in politics.
Agatha Amata, a Media Entrepreneur, acknowledged the need for the constitution to reserve special seats for women, if they are to catch-up, and achieve a level field.
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“For women to catch-up with what is available, there needs to be some sort of compensation,” she said.
Obukome Ibru, a movie producer and politician, said it was important for women to begin to participate early in politics.
Ibru urged women to overcome the negative stereotypes and perceptions of women in politics, adding that she had received support from women on various levels.
