As the National Assembly wraps up activities ahead of the inauguration of the tenth national assembly, women advocates have lamented the inability of the 9th national assembly to pass the five gender bills despite lobbying and advocacies leading to Nigerian women protesting and calling out the leadership of the National Assembly on its rejection of women interest issues in March 2022. To continue the advocacy on the gender bills, Media chiefs were hosted to a one-day knowledge building roundtable on Wednesday 3 May 2023 in Ikeja, Lagos by WARDC in collaboration with Women Radio 91.7 and the International Press Center with support from USAID and Palladium Scale Project.

Speaking at the event, Professor Joy Ezeilo, founder of Women Aid Collective and Senior Advocate of Nigeria urged the media to give prominence to female politicians in their reportage and headline stories as Nigeria can not achieve an equitable democracy without women. Toun Okewale Sonaiya, co-founder of Women Radio 91.7 urged her colleagues, media practitioners to spotlight more women in their reportage encouraging the media to adopt the “ReportHer Until Something Happens” (RUSH) model and the 50:50 strategy for a balanced representation of gender to boost having at least 35% women being appointed by President-Elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the incoming administration. Okewale-Sonaiya appealed to the media to push for the passage of the gender bills at the tenth national assembly as the ninth assembly rejected the bills.

Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, Executive Director Women Advocates Research and Documentation Center spoke on the need to push for the passage of the bills at the 9th NASS before its course ends while expressing hope that the tenth national assembly would do right by women with the bills if the ninth assembly fails to. Akiyode-Afolabi also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to assent to the Sexual Harassment bill to protect women from sexual harassment and human rights violations, highlighting the role of the media in spotlighting the bills and sensitizing Nigerians on the importance of the bills to Nigerian women. Lanre Arogundade, Executive Director of the International Press Center encouraged the media to keep conversations on the bills at the front burner and ensure that women across sectors are made relevant through balanced reportage on different media platforms while recommending that the gender bills be simplified into booklets and accessible document links online for easy awareness.

The Media Chiefs also urged women groups to form stronger coalitions for easy accessibility to the lawmakers to make these demands while encouraging female politicians to mentor other women and stir up women’s interest in politics.

Esther Alaribe
news@wfm917.com
Women Radio 91.7