By Ikhili Ebalu, Benin City
The need for adequate female representation in the Nigeria Political Space has been given boost by stakeholders of the Joyce Daniels Organization (a social engineering platform for youth mentorship).
This was contained in a statement made available to journalists in Benin City and signed by Lady Joyce Oamen
CEO of Joyce Daniels Engineering company.
According to Oamen, “statistics shows that in Nigeria Political Space, from the National Assembly to the local government level, just a minute percentage of women are in position of authority. This goes to show the reason why the country’s development has been very slow over the years. Nature abhors vacuum, there is the need to balance the Nigeria Political Space for things to work well.
God Almighty has a reason for creating men and women as partners in the world order. The country need women in all level of government and sphere of existence for peace, progress and social harmony”, she opined.
Lady Oamen stated that this manifest lapses in the Nigeria Political Space is one of the reason she is declaring to run for the position of member of Edo State House of Assembly representing Esan Central LGA come 2023. “We cannot continue to standby and watch things continuously go wrong. We need to do something”, She said.
“As mothers and cradle of humanity, women has so much to offer in the political growth of this country, it’s high time they are brought to the forefront to make tangible impact”,. She added.
Lady Joyce Oamen called on Nigerians to support women into position of power most especially in the Cross road of our national voyage. Women has the capacity to set things right and redirect the nation on the road of massive growth and development.
Below is the excerpt of the statistical based statement signed by Lady Oamen posted on joycedaniels.com.
Today, I choose to shed light on the low number of women represented in the political space, which is an obvious insignificant number that must be improved upon.
To be specific, there are 469 seats at the Nigerian National Assembly, 109 Senatorial seats and 360 Representative seats. It’s sad to know that just 24 of these seats are occupied by women, 13 Representatives and 11 Senators. These are poor figures and you’ll agree that this is a poor representation for Women who have a population size just the same as Men or even more.
The story is not so different for the State Houses of Assembly. Currently, Cross Rivers state has the highest female representation with 5 Honourable Members at the State House of Assembly out of 25 seats. While some states have four (4) female legislators, others have two (2) but sadly, some others have no female members. A clear example is Edo State where I come from. The Edo State House of Assembly has NO FEMALE LEGISLATOR.
It is sad to note that only 45 out of the 990 seats at the State Houses of Assembly across the country are occupied by women.
Recently at the National Assembly, proposed bills to promote the inclusion and participation of women in government was rejected by the majority of members. Eighty-one lawmakers voted in favour of the bill, while 208 voted against it and 13 members abstained from voting. Ironic is the fact that this happened in March, just before the celebration of the International Women’s Day 2022, with a charge to “Break The Bias”, a bias that even the leadership of the National Assembly by their actions and inactions have enabled.
My clamour for more women inclusion is simple; women do not lead better than Men. We lead differently from men.
A common trait about us is our empathy and thoroughness when we set our minds to a task, amongst other things. That trait if thrown into the melting pot of leadership in considerable proportions would produce a fine blend of leadership options and energy to transform the polity.
Raising an argument to question the ability of women to lead should not be a topic to discuss in the 21st century. The likes of Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Prof Dora Akunyili (of blessed memory), Angela Merkel (former Chancellor of Germany), Margaret Thatcher and even Her Majesty, the Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth II is proof enough that women have what it takes to lead well.
“How does this affect me?”, you may ask.
As a woman, my lack of support for equal representation of competent women at the national and state assemblies or other leadership positions in government means that our fate is left in the hands of people who have no idea about the challenges we face and how they can be solved.
The Men are also affected by this as it is a ripple effect. The low number of Women in government also means the rights of the women in their lives (mothers, sisters, wives, daughters) and the policies that would give them visibility, security and make their lives better, could be delayed, misconstrued or worse, taken away when bills that provide solutions to the challenges of women are not passed into law.
It’s in everybody’s best interest that there is equal representation for both men and women at every level in Government. I, therefore, encourage more women to show up and stand out. Women need to be trained and to build credibility and capacity to make themselves better qualified and suited for these offices and positions.
Women can support women.
Men can support women.
When society encourages and empowers us to serve in significant capacities, everyone will benefit massively from our immense and unique style of leadership, with significant developmental strides to show. It is up to us to change the present political narrative for the overall good of Nigeria and we shall play our part…. Continue reading