To encourage women’s involvement in political leadership, the International Republican Institute (IRI) in partnership with Electher, has unveiled a roadmap to proactively advance gender equity in Nigeria’s political leadership.
At a session organised by IRI and Electher held in Lagos, Policy and Strategic Partnership Manager of the organisation, Solape Sonuga, noted that in the 2023 general election, of the 4,259 candidates that contested for different positions, only 381 were women.
She stated that the roadmap was developed through extensive research and in-depth consultation with key stakeholders that are committed to the promotion of democracy and equity for increased women’s participation in political leadership in Nigeria.
“In the development process, we identified past and existing interventions that seek to promote women’s participation, examined the barriers to success and collectively developed this roadmap to harmonise efforts and chart a sustainable way forward to improve women’s participation in political leadership and public life, in the short to long term,” she said.
While speaking on barriers to women’s political participation in Nigeria, Sonuga identified exclusionary practices, poor media coverage, informal cultural norms, education, access to resources and opportunities, lack of effective government action and passive buy-in from the private sector as key issues.
She noted that the benefit of the roadmap include broad collaboration, far-reaching gender responsive reforms, institutionalised gender quota and improved media messaging, among others.
She added: “The key objective of the roadmap is to facilitate women’s inclusion in the political hierarchy and adoption as party candidates by at least 35 per cent in the 2027 general election; improve and control the narrative of media coverage for women in the Nigerian political space to enhance visibility for women in politics by at least 60 per cent before the 2027 elections.
“There should be control and minimised impact of cultural and religious norms on politically exposed women in Nigeria; establishment of an institutional mechanism that compels the adoption of female candidacy and makes political participation attractive and rewarding for women and strengthen the capacity of women to generate income and mobilise resources for campaigns”.
In her remarks, the Programme Officer of IRI, Etty Peter-Victor, stated that her organisation promotes inclusion amongst women in politics through capacity building campaigns.”
“The document serves as a guide to increase women in political participation even though the outcome has been low with all the interventions by Civil Society Organisations (CSOs). We want to see how we can streamline the interventions of CSOs to ensure they yield result. We hope that by 2027 things will be better for women, as this is the right time to start.”
