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• Faults Agitation For Gender Quota In Leadership Position
Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, yesterday, said he would push for the creation of a special fund to sponsor women’s political activities.
Speaking during a dialogue session organised by the Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WimBiz) in Abuja, Gbajabiamila said Nigerian women have a lot to offer in politics.
The Speaker who promised to recommend the idea to the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the All Progressive Congress (APC), argued that with the right candidates, good ideas, funding and organisation, more Nigerian women would get elected into political offices.
Gbajabiamila, who said he owes his participation and success in politics to his mother, who stood doggedly for him, added that Nigerian women should also strive towards addressing cultural impediments that tend to discriminate against them.He said that Nigerian women could also engage in more advocacy, lobby, and peaceful protests, among others to drive home their point, and work hard to get into more elective positions.
The Speaker said the 9th House of Representatives has made gender equality a cardinal point of its legislative agenda, which it unveiled last Friday, adding that he would personally champion the course of women in the House.
He said: “I have heard it said that we can achieve increased gender participation in politics, by imposing quotas and allocating elective political offices. We cannot on the one hand advocate for a new kind of politics dependent on respect for the basic human right of all people to choose their leaders, in free and fair elections, without interference and imposition, and on the other hand, argue for the imposition of quotas in elective office.”
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