The House of Representatives Committee on Women in Parliament has lamented the decline in the representation of women in the National Assembly and politics generally.

The Committee Chairperson, Hon. Taiwo Oluga representing Ayedoade/Irewole/Isokan federal constituency in Osun state
at a briefing organised by the Nigerian Women Trust Fund, the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN) alongside civil society organisations in Abuja on Monday 7 November 2022 decried the low participation of women in governance despite various advocacy and interventions by women groups and parliamentarians to increase women participation in politics in Nigeria, not a lot has been achieved yet.

Speaking at the briefing with the theme, ‘Women’s Political Participation and Inclusion and 2023 General Elections’, Oluga lamented the low representation of women amongst the presidential candidates stating that only the APM (Allied Peoples Movement fielded a female presidential candidate ahead of the 2023 elections. The lawmaker said in some states like Kano, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara, no single woman was nominated as presidential or national assembly candidate for the 2023 polls even though we had competent women who would meritoriously fill these positions while noting that if decisive actions are not taken that the representation of women at the National Assembly will drastically reduce.

Amongst the nominated candidates across all political parties for the House of Representatives Elections next year, only 288 women are contesting out of 3,122 aspirants, depicting that the number of women participating in politics or contesting elective offices is on a steady decline since 2015. For the 2023 Senate Elections, out of the 1,101 candidates contesting for 109 seats in the National Assembly, only 92 are women.

According to the House of Representatives Committee, “Even before the 2023 elections, it is clear that 13.5 per cent of States will not have any female member in the National Assembly and this would cause a huge setback in attaining 35 per cent affirmative action in elective and appointive offices in Nigeria.

Oluga highlighted political violence, patriarchy, stigmatisation, illiteracy, odd meeting schedules, lack of funds and economic empowerment, cultural and religious barriers as some of the challenges to women’s participation in politics across the country.

As part of activities to mitigate the factors hindering women’s political participation,  the committee would be collaborating with legislators, civil society organisations, religious and traditional institutions to address the highlighted barriers.

Esther Alaribe
Women Radio 91.7
news@wfm917.com