A coordinating group to promote the development of a National Action Plan for Women’s Political Participation in Nigeria has been launched.
The initiative collaborates with a non-governmental organization, BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights, and the National Democratic Institute.
The Deputy Country Director of the National Democratic Institute (NDI), Francis Madugu, while speaking at the inauguration in Abuja, stressed the importance of inclusive participatory democracy in enabling women to take their rightful positions.
“In Nigeria, about 51 percent of women vote during elections. Despite these, women are still underrepresented in both elective and appointive positions,” he said.
Also speaking, Mrs Bunmi Dipo-Salami, Executive Director of BAOBAB said the initiative was to unify result-oriented efforts rather than working in isolation.
“There are so many people working in this sector trying to improve women’s representation in government, elections, elective positions, and appointments. Yet at the end of the day, it’s like all their efforts just go, that is why we have decided to have a coordinating group of experts in different fields.
“This collaborative approach will help address the common issue of key stakeholders claiming they were not informed or involved in the process. By working together, we can create a policy document that has broad support and is more likely to be successfully implemented.” Dipo-Salamis said.
In her remark, the BAOBAB Program Director, Ms Anne Lawal, explained that the project tagged SHE PERSISTS Nigeria Project was aimed at improving women’s political and leadership participation at the local, subnational, and national levels and will be executed within a timeframe of two years.
Adesuwa Onyenokwe, who spoke on behalf of the group members, said the collaboration will serve as a unified document that would be instrumental in pushing for women’s political participation ahead of the 2027 election.
“Notably, women’s representation in political spaces like the National Assembly and Senate has declined over the past 24 years, with women now holding less than 5% of positions. I believe that BAOBAB’s collaborative approach will yield a comprehensive national action plan, marking a significant milestone in our efforts to increase women’s political participation.” She noted
It was gathered that Nigeria has not attained 30 percent affirmative as prescribed by the Beijing Platform of Action, considering the overall political representation in the government of Nigeria with less than 7 percent.
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