PUSH NEWS 24 INTERNATIONAL: December 3rd, 2022
2023 : ADEBULE FETES AMUWO ODOFIN WOMEN STAKEHOLDERS AS SANUSI ADVOCATES FOR MORE WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN POLITICS
The All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial candidate for Lagos West, HE Dr Idiat Adebule in conjuction with the APC Amuwo Odofin Candidates and other stakeholders have flagged off a grassroot victory campaign ahead of the 2023 general elections.
The event which was hosted under the heels of the Conference of 57 Women in both Amuwo Odofin LGA and Oriade LCDA was targeted at mobilizing the entire women folks towards the collection of their PVC and voting enmasse for all APC candidates in Lagos State with Amuwo Odofin Federal Constituency as focus.
Addressing the media on the relevance of women in politics, the APC House of Representative candidate for Amuwo Odofin Federal Constituency, Prince Lanre A. Sanusi (PLS) said representation is the core basis of democracy. Improved decision-making. Over the years we have found that women’s involvement impacts decision-making in a positive way – with examples including better childcare in Norway and more drinking water projects in India linked which are linked to higher levels of female representation.
“Studies have found that longer exposure to women’s political representation increases women’s overall labour force participation, the share of public employment opportunities and the stabilization of the socio-political pheres of any country”
“Despite all efforts to promote the contribution of women in the domain of politics and decision making, women have continued to record low representation at all tiers and levels of governance although they constitute more than half of the electorate”. PLS said.
The US trained financial expert and tax consultant stressed that women’s involvement in government decision making is giving significant political visibility to women’s rights worldwide. Although women are not a homogeneous group, they tend to be supporters of other women and have been instrumental in placing women’s issues and concerns on to the parliamentary agenda.
Explaining why Nigeria ranked low, the PLS said, “The under representation of women in political participation gained root due to the patriarchal practice inherent in our society, much of which were obvious from pre-colonial era till date. Given the several talks, initiatives and policy directions of the APC led Lagos State government, one would expect greater progress in Nigeria’s quest for increased women’s political participation.”
On his mission to the Green Chamber the Awori born Prince stressed –
“Having realised that the existing constitutional guarantees are not totally effective in preventing discrimination based on sex, religion, ethnic affiliations, my motions and recommendations will came in light of the need to ensure all-inclusive participation of Nigerians in every sphere of the nation’s endeavour.”
“It is evident today that women still suffer a lot of discrimination, especially in their participation in politics. I, therefore, intend to examine an issue that continues to attract much concern not only from the womenfolk of our great country but also from every Nigerian who is appalled by the limited opportunities afforded women to effectively participate in politics in Nigeria.”
Thanking the leadership of the Party in Lagos West for their mobilization efforts so far he further thanked the women for coming out enmasse to support Dr Idiat Adebule and other Candidates and advising them to vote enmasse for the APC.
Push News 24 International reports that a detailed report by the Gender Strategy Advancement International, GSAI, has disclosed that women political participation in Nigeria falls below the world and African continental standards.
According to the report, the national average of women’s political participation in Nigeria remain at 6.7 percent in elective and appointive positions, which it said, is far below the global average of 22.5 per cent, Africa regional average of 23.4 percent and West African Sub Regional Average of 15 percent.
The report added that Nigeria ranked 181 of 193 countries on the Gender Equality Index, for countries with low women representation in governance.
