By VBy Victoria Ojemeictoria Ojeme

Nigeria witnesses one of the most sluggish gains in the global growth of women government. In fact, the question of a Nigerian female president seems like the proverbial passing of a camel through a needle’s eye.

This was even corroborated in a recent interview this newspaper had with the National Woman Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Professor Stella Effah-Attoe. When asked about the prospects of a Nigerian female president, she threw back the question at us.
“Do we see women becoming president of this country soon?” I asked her. That’s a very serious question. I will ask you too, from what you are seeing on the ground, does it look feasible at this moment? It is a good dream but from what we have on ground, does it look feasible at the moment? That is the question we have to ask ourselves,” she said.

Professor Effah-Attoe was speaking at a workshop on campaign management for female candidates for the PDP. She had earlier urged party leaders to consider the nomination of women as vice- presidential and deputy governorship candidates ahead of the 2023 general elections – a plea that seemed to have fallen on unreceptive ears.

According to the new data from the Inter-Parliamentary Union, women occupy the role of Heads of State or Government in 22 countries, up from 20 countries this time last year. As of 1 January, 2021, 5.9 per cent of elected Heads of State (9 out of 152) and 6.7 per cent of Heads of Government (13 out of 193) are women.

Europe is the region with the most countries led by women, with five out of the world’s nine women Heads of State and seven out of the world’s 13 women Heads of Government. The Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway are all currently led by women.
The fact remains that political will plays a role in advancing gender equality, particularly when it comes to appointing ministers. Namibia made the biggest leap forward in Sub-Saharan Africa, increasing its overall share of women ministers from 15 per cent to 39 per cent. Rwanda still leads the region, maintaining the largest share of women ministers at 54.8 per cent as well as topping the global charts again in the share of women parliamentarians.

“This workshop was organised by the International Republican Institute, IRI and it is basically a workshop to bring women into understanding how to manage their campaign, and I believe they organise similar workshops for every other political party but this time around, this workshop is for female PDP candidates.

“And so, the women are here to interact and also to listen to paper presentations in different areas especially as it concerns management of campaigns and I believe it is going to involve a lot of discussions based on strategy to adopt as women in managing campaigns.
“ They are going out there to campaign, INEC will soon lift the ban on campaign on the 28th of September and these women have to gain some skills in terms of going out there to face the populace. So whatever they are packaging in terms of addressing different problems affecting rural women is based on their individual arrangements and choice,” Professor Stella Effah-Attoe said at the workshop.

She explained that the workshop was significant because despite increases in the number of women at the highest levels of political power, widespread gender inequalities persist.
“So you need the media – social media and the traditional media, use them, go out there, sell yourself, let people see you because campaigning has to do with seeing what you have on ground and making the populace to accept what they are seeing.

“So you have to package yourself, sell yourself, use the media and let the populace see what you are presenting and they will accept you, if you present yourself well; by planning, by organising, by adopting a lot of strategies that will be presented here and that they will pick from here at the end of the workshop,” Professor Effah-Attoe explained.

Also speaking at the workshop, Santiago Stocker who is the Nigerian Resident Programme Director of the International Republican Institute said the objective of the training is to empower female candidates to run effective campaigns, to develop policy-driven campaigns, to improve their leadership skills, to be competitive and to effectively participate in the political process.

This is because, according to him: “There are many hindrances to women’s political participation and we are focusing on some of those today.

“There are barriers that might be within parties, that might be cultural, that might be societal, many barriers that we are working to overcome and that is why we are here today, to empower female candidates to be as effective as possible and to fully participate in the political process.

“And we know that this is an important time for Nigeria and it is going to require full participation of both men and women to deepen democracy and have legitimate effective governance for all Nigerians.

“Our objective is to do everything we can to increase female participation, as I said full participation by men and women is critical for consolidation of democracy in Nigeria,” he explained.

It is believed that paving the way for more women in the political, business and civic arena is an investment in more just, equitable, and peaceful societies.