Ahead of the 2023 general elections, Nigerian women have been charged to brace up to the challenges and participate fully in politics in order to get elected into elective positions or appointed into various offices across the tiers of government.
All Progressives Congress (APC), Women Leader, Honourable Stella Okotete and a former Minister of Women Affairs, Iyom Josephine Anenih, among other stakeholders, on Tuesday, gave the charge at a one-day Television conference.
The organiser, Dinidari Foundation is partnered with Heinrich Boll Stiftung hosted one day TV conference held at African Independent Television (AIT), with the aim of engaging female activists and politicians of different generations in a public dialogue that unpacks ways to strengthen the civic space and women’s political power in Nigeria for the promotion of a society based on social justice and gender equality.
Okotete said women have the capacity to President and governors of this country and must not be relegated to the background, saying what is important is to change strategy insisting that this was the appropriate time to take action as well as engage critical stakeholders to galvanise support for women to help them realise their political ambition.
Oketete who disclosed that she was lucky to have gotten elected into parliament at the age of 36, plans were on to move into campuses to recruit women activists to participate in the political process so as to bridge the huge gap.
She noted that a platform has been established focusing on capacity building for women as well as engaging critical stakeholders both outside and within political parties to create space for women to vote and be voted for.
She said: “We have been saying that but beyond talking, what are we doing as women to actualise what we have said; backing it with action. The only way we can back it up with action is to gather among ourselves, lobby the men, because like it or leave it, we are all critical stakeholders in governance and national politics.
“So, we are lobbying the men, lobbying women, because if you look at the voting strength of the country, you wonder why a woman can’t and never actually govern states or govern the country; at least we make the majority of the voting population,” she said.
She added that Nigeria is currently going through trying times in terms of insecurity, economic downtown, and the COVID-19 pandemic have affected the economy requiring more women to steer the leadership of the country.
The former Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Iyom Josephine Anenih, who joined the conference virtually, said she was excited at the theme of the conference, “From the streets to the Parliament: Empowering Women’s Political Power in Nigeria”, stressing that it was time for women in Nigeria to rise to slug it out with the male counterpart.
She lamented discrimination against women by political parties in Nigeria, saying on paper, the political parties claim not to discriminate against women “but when it comes to delegating elections men always have the upper hand because they have humongous money to spend.”
“You have to be rebels to make it in politics. You have to fight them. We should have the courage to ask for 50-50 for political positions and appointments,” Anenih said.
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