Electher, a non-governmental organisation, has lamented the poor female participation in the off-cycle governorship elections holding this weekend in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states.

During a pre-election briefing, organised alongside other partners like the Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF) under European Union funding in Abuja yesterday, founder and CEO of ElectHer, Ibijoke Faborode, who blamed the development on high cost of nomination forms, regretted that women in the three states were small-scale farmers that could raise the exorbitant fee.

She queried: “So, because most of the women in these states are small-scale farmers, how many of them can actually afford a N14 million form? So, it’s almost dead on arrival.

“Despite placing a cap of N1 billion on spending for governorship election, how many women can afford N10 million naira within the states. How many women can afford N1 billion?

Faborode urged stakeholders to crave for detailed information, insisting that it was the only way the country could make informed decisions and prioritise women’s issues.

Research and Policy Manager, Abdulmumin Usman, who stated that Nigeria cannot achieve significant development with the current trend of excluding women from decision-making, advised government to consider the opportunity cost of having few women in governance.

Programme, Policy and Strategic Partnership Manager, Solape Sonuga, noted: “One thing that is very key for us is the gender representation around off-cycle elections. So, general representation with regard to INEC staff and voter population within the states and with regard to candidates, there is just one major deputy governorship female candidate in Kogi. And in the other states, there are some female candidates, but they’re not from the prominent parties.”