UN, others advocate more women participation in politics

Dinidari Africa, one of Nigeria’s leading organizations in women’s political participation in partnered with United Nations women and the Government of Norway, on Wednesday, and launched an essential project dubbed ‘Women’s Empowerment in Politics’ to include more women in the political process to dominance of the political space.

It said that the aim is to work hand in hand with political parties to mitigate low representation of women in political decision-making processes by creating and adopting a gender-responsive work plan for political Parties and canvassing for the establishment of women’s wings in Political Parties.

Dinidari Africa’s, in a statement by its Project Lead, Agnes Arong, bemoaned the current alarming statistical disparity in Female to Male political candidates and its negative impact on policies intended to balance representation in all spheres of governance.

She said: “Nigeria is plagued by a low representation of women in political decision-making processes. Currently, women’s political representation in Nigeria is abysmally low with 7.9% and 3.6% in the House of Senate and House of Representatives respectively – the lowest figures for sub-Saharan Africa.

“The last two political cycles have seen a regression in the numbers which in 2015 stood at 6.4% and 6.7% in the higher and lower Houses of Assembly. Furthermore, women make up approximately 16% of ministerial appointments and in state legislatures only 4.43% of representatives are women.

“The Women Political Empowerment in Nigeria Project is a three-month project targeted at creating a network of women political leaders and key partners working to support a reversal of the low representation of women in politics. It is also aimed at capacity strengthening for women leaders across political parties and other party stakeholders”.

Recall that, in a meeting with the Kaduna state Inter-Party Advisory Council chairman Mr. Mikailu Abubakar, the UN Women representative Ms. Chundung Ashely Dauda expressed the urgent need to address the decline of women’s participation in politics with the north-west as one of the regions with the lowest female political representation in Nigeria.

She emphasized that the true effect of the project would be seen in the 2027 elections as women would be more knowledgeable of their political capacity and impact.

“The project would be taking place in Kaduna and Plateau states with the cooperation and collaboration of different political parties, women leaders, and organizations to encourage the active participation of women in the political decision-making process and governance in Nigeria.”