…urges political parties to field women as governorship candidates

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

To address the rising spate of insecurity in the country, the Nigerian Feminist Forum, NFF, on Monday, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint women in the security agencies as service chiefs.

The group, at a press conference it held in Abuja, said it was worried about the increased number of women and girls in internally displaced persons camps across the country, as a result of insurgency and banditry.

It decried that a recent report from a global data platform, Statista, disclosed that Nigeria has the third highest number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Africa.

The NFF, which is a coalition of non governmental organizations championing the protection of rights of women, said it was high time women were allowed to spearhead the war against insecurity in the country.

More so, the group, in a press statement that was signed by its Communications Officer, Angela Nkwo, decried the dwindling number of women occupying elective positions in the country.

It said: “Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the Nigerian Feminist Forum is concerned about the lack of representation of women and girls in every facet of the country, despite the fact that we form almost half of the population, we are not heard!

“In another one year, Nigeria will commence the electoral process to elect people to occupy political office from 2023 but the issue is, to do what exactly, is it to reenact the same unworkable system?

“Women and girls despite our teeming numbers enjoy less than six per cent representation.

“Out of 109 members, only seven women are in the senate while eleven women are in the House of Representatives, altogether 18 out of the 469 members of the National Assembly, a very paltry and discriminative figure.

“The State Houses of Assembly have not fared any better. Of the entire Northwest states of Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Sokoto, Kebbi, and Zamfara, only one female legislator was sworn-in after the 2019 general elections, specifically into the Kaduna House of Assembly.

“The entire south east has only 10 out of 129 members, while the south west has only 13 lawmakers.

“Since the return to democracy, women have grappled with insurgency, insecurity, displacements from their homes, kidnap, rape, lack of access to quality healthcare and education.

“Of 144 countries, Nigeria ranks 122nd in closing the gender gap, and last in maternal mortality, infant vaccination, and in neonatal mortality according to the Africa Sustainability Index launched by the Future Proofing Healthcare initiative at the 2021 Africa Health Agenda International Conference, AHAIC.

According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) Over 3.2 million people are displaced, including over 2.9 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in north-eastern Nigeria, over 684,000 IDPs in Cameroon, Chad and Niger and 304,000 refugees in the four countries.

“If nothing is urgently done, Nigerian women and girls will continue to die in their numbers.

“We demand female inclusion urgently, and adoption of gender equality across all spheres in Nigeria”.

As part of its eight-point demands, the NFF, urged all the major political parties in the country to make women their National Chairpersons.

“This will help address the violence and patriarchy women experience in political parties. It is time to try a new process since they have failed us.

“The NFF calls for a 40 per cent quota system strictly for women across the 18 accredited political parties for the 2023 general elections.

“We demand that women be fielded as governorship candidates especially the supposed big controlling parties.

“To address insurgency and abuse of women, the NFF calls on the federal government to show commitment to the cause and announce women in the security agencies as service chiefs. They know where it pinches most.

“We call on all the 36 states of Assembly to immediately pass the VAPP bill into law to protect the rights of every person, women and girls inclusive.

“We call on women to register to vote in the ongoing voters registration.

“Further, we call on women to join political parties and to stand election”, the statement further read.