Women antidote to graft in Nigeria, says rector

Until Nigerian women are given their fair shares in Nigerian political hegemony, corruption in the nation’s polity will continue, according to Acting Rector, Federal Polytechnic Offa, Kwara State Dr. Kuburat Olaosebikan.

Speaking at the maiden conference of the Polytechnic chapter of Women in Technical and Vocational Education, (WITED) Olaosebikan, said women by their nature unlike “some men” have lesser inclination to looting the public treasuries as she canvassed a more level playing ground for women in politics.

Besides, the Acting Rector, who identified other causative factors of corruption in Nigeria as greed, poor youth empowerment, poverty and general unemployment, said Nigerians should stop further tendencies to undermine “the great potentials” in their women especially in the area of national development.

She said; “the helm of affairs is usually occupied by men and because of that, women are the ones that are mostly affected by corruption, this is part of the reason why it is said that poverty wears the face of a woman and part of what causes poverty is corruption.”

Reminiscing on alleged findings of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) in the last General Elections in Nigeria, Olaosebikan noted that it was unfair to have discovered that some women politicians who had legitimately won primary elections in their parties were replaced with their male counterparts.

She added, “this is corruption and until corruption is fought to a standstill, women will not have a fair deal. In the field of politics and decision making, corruption, denies women a level field necessary for participation on ground of WITED is a project conceptualised by the Commonwealth Association of Polytechnics in Africa (CAPA) in reaction to the observed abysmally low participation of women in Science and Technical Education in its member institutions.

Acknowledging the supportive roles of the pioneer Rector and those of all her successors to WITED, the coordinator of the association, Mrs Anthonia Alawaye justified the theme for the conference, ‘Impact of Women in Curbing Corrupt Practices in Nigeria’ describing it as apt to Federal Government’s recent wars on corruption.

According to Alawaye, “it should be pointed out that this conference was held in accordance with the campaign of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Muhammadu Buhari) to fight corruption at all levels. He has made us aware that corruption is not all about looting money but rather found against women at every occupied positions.”

Delivering a lead paper on ‘Nigerian Women as Agents of Anti-Corruption Crusade in Nigeria’, Dr Carol Ajewole-Orimogunje, while lauding the Federal Government for the establishment of anti-graft agencies, believed however that an effective war against corruption should start from home front where women are saddled with much responsibilities to all the members of their family.