Women, under the aegis of the movement, Womanifesto, have called for a declaration of a state of emergency on women’s political representation in Nigeria.
The women, who made the call at the 2021 Womanifesto Dialogue, held on Monday in Lagos, also inaugurated the movement’s “Womanifesto Charter of Demands.”
The theme of the event is “Connecting Voices for Transformative Leadership.”
The National Dialogue Chairperson of the movement, Hajiya Saudatu Mahdi, said that Nigerian women, both from the grassroots up to the national level, had shown interest in political participation.
According to her, women’s number of aspirations in the 2015 and 2019 general elections in Nigeria, shows that more women have offered themselves to serve the country through various levels of elective offices.
“There is a conscious move to try something more or to give more consideration to the participation of women in governance – this means both elective and appointive positions.
“As such, it is likely that women are in a very ready position.
“What is lacking is that push from behind in terms of political parties support, family support, economic wherewithal and capacity, and most importantly, the political will to push the numbers by policy and practical changes.
“We are calling for a declaration of a state of emergency because it works and we are not just going to be calling by words.
“We are going to act to ensure that we put the right level of pressure to put this acceleration of a state of emergency because, for goodness sake, Nigeria is way behind,” Mahdi said.
She said also that there was the need for more drastic policy and practical changes that would ensure that the number of women in politics increased.
Mahdi said, “The numbers of women who are capable is available.”
Also, the convener of the dialogue, Mrs Abiola Afolabi, said that the Womanifesto Charter of Demands include five key issues the movement is calling on government to address.
According to her, there are about five key issues the movement is looking at: political participation; woman and economy; sexual reproductive right; violence against women, and the issue of human capital.
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“Womanifesto is linking up with a lot of other organisations that are working with women in policy.
“Also, we are ensuring that when there are nominations for people to attend training or be in one programme or the other, we must ensure that young people also participate in it,” Afolabi said.
The convener also said that women are bringing values into politics, but a lot of those values have not been recorded.
According to her, on the agenda of the programme is to ensure that people have a good understanding of what the woman wants so as to use that as a way of articulating the needs and the issue of women in politics. (NAN)
