Aisha Wakaso, special adviser on print media to Governor Umar Bago of Niger state has decried the low inclusion of women in politics in Nigeria.
Wakaso spoke at the annual maiden lecture organised by Crisp Nigeria (CrispNG), a youth-focused online media organisation, on Saturday, to commemorate the 2024 Internal Youth Day.
Addressing the topic “The Nigeria of Our Dreams: Preparing Women and Girls for Leadership”, the governor’s aide said aide several barriers are discouraging women in the country from taking part in politics.
She said: “Sometimes women are blackmailed, sometimes, our private lives are brought to the public because we want political appointments. So, some of these things make us run away from getting into politics.
“From what we can see, in the whole 36 states of Nigeria, we do not have a female governor. If we have ever had a female governor, it was one that got there because a man was pushed out maybe through impeachment or something.
“However, despite this little advancement that we think we are making, the number of women in politics remains dispassionately low compared to our male counterparts. We have been faced with so many challenges that hinder the effective participation of women in politics—culture and social norms.
“Being part of politics in Nigeria, you have to spend money. Women going into politics cannot match the men who spend hundreds and thousands of dollars to win primary elections. Serah Jibril was an example who came out to contest for the PDP primaries, not a single vote from women who were delegates.
“Looking at the way things are now, we keep hearing that people pay in millions to get political appointments, which is disheartening, and because we don’t have the economic power, that means we might have to always go to the men.”
Wakaso called for holistic reforms to addressing marginalisation of women in politics in Nigeria.
She also called on governors and relevant stakeholders to walk the talk when it comes to running inclusive system.
She added: “Strengthening legal frameworks that will be implemented to protect women. Women are not really protected; you see people at the national level disrespecting women.
“People as high ranking as the senate president disrespect Senator Natasha Apoti. He refused to apologies until he was called out. If he could disrespect a potential senate president and his colleagues, imagine what he would do to me, who is at the local level.
“The issue of 35 percent affirmative action, we keep talking and nothing is being done. In my state, we have just one woman in the house of assembly. That has been it for the past 6-10 years. For commissioners, we have just four or five. Nobody is really giving us the spot that we want.”
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