By SOLA OGUNDIPE

President Goodluck Jonathan has been called upon to ensure a realistic gender balance in the formation of his new government in keeping with his promise to give 35 percent of appointments to women if re-elected.

Already, advocacy groups are committing the President to reiterate commitment to adequate representation of women in the structures of the newly elected government and parliament in line with the National Gender Policy, the 35 per cent Affirmative Action of the Bejing Conference in China and international instruments which the nation is signatory to.

It was gathered that the President is expected to issue directives to all nominations from states and sectors to have at least one woman in every three nominations as a clear strategy for achieving affirmative action.

Among the demands are that women be given full consideration in the appointment of principal officers for the National Assembly and that at a minimum of 15 ministerial appointments be reserved for women.

Reasoning that women be adequately represented in the new government, because they constitute half of the national population, the group said that there are more female voters than men, hence, it is expected that women as well as men would work together to move the Nigerian nation to greater heights.

“The 2011 general elections were seen as a

good platform to authenticate the voting pattern of Nigerian women. This has been done and proofs exist of the active participation and support of women to the 2011 campaigns and elections. Hence the need for focused advocacy for the conscious and quality inclusion of women in the structures of the newly elected government and Parliament through actions and pronouncements that confer to women opportunity to contribute concretely to national development by the actualisation of 35 per cent Affirmative Action for women in appointive positions (ministerial, advisory level- special assistants, heads of key parastatals, membership of boards etc)

They argued for implementation of the women’s charters especially the manifesto developed through varied fora (the IRI one, the womanifesto, the women’s summit etc).

Implementation of these charters will prove government’s commitments to national policies such as the National Gender Policy and international instruments which it is a signatory.

The 35 per cent Affirmative Action representation of women would also serve as a remedy to the poor performance of women in the recent polls, they argued.