Budding female politician in Cross River State and leader of Calabar Municipal Legislative Council, Princess Essienawan Eso, has attributed the success of major political parties in Nigeria to active participation of women in politics, especially in the area of mass mobilisation.

Eso, who spoke, yesterday, in Calabar at a town hall meeting on “Women’s Political Participation in Nigeria”, organised by KIMPACT Development Initiative (KDI) in collaboration with the UN women and Canadian Embassy, also decried penchant by some male politicians to discourage their female counterparts.

She said: “Women are the backbone of every political party in Nigeria. If you watch closely almost all political party rallies and gatherings, you will observe that over 70 per cent of the people are women.”

She accused her male counterparts of deliberately frustrating women by creating disharmony among female politicians.
This, she noted, was intended to give negative impression that women politicians don’t trust and support one another.

In the same vein, the Councillor representing Ward 7 in Bakassi Council of Cross River State, Grace Bassey, said financial inadequacy and lack of political awareness remain also affect women active participation in politics.

Speaking as a panelist at the event, Bassey noted with regret that some women still believed that politics was exclusive for the menfolk. She called for a paradigm shift to ensure all round development in the country.

Bassey said: “Lack of awareness on the need for women active political participation and inadequate finance are some of the factors limiting women’s participation in politics.”

Earlier in his welcome address, a Senior Programme Officer of KIMPACT Development Initiative, Mr. Olufemi John, advocated involvement of more women in key leadership positions.

He said having more women in decision-making and leadership positions will foster rapid human capital development in the society.

“More women in leadership positions will ensure human capital development; as their male counterparts think of stomach infrastructure,” Olufemi said.

Other panelists were: Ukay Ogar of 95.9 Hit FM Radio; Dr. Bassey Ekeng and Timothy Archibong of the Efik Leadership Foundation, among others in Calabar.