
As the world marks this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD), FELIX NWANERI reports that Nigerian women are fast becoming mere cheerleaders given less female representation in politics and governance, thereby negating the affirmative action principle
The International Women’s Day (IWD), which is observed every March 8, is used to celebrate the cultural, political, economic and social achievements of women. It also marks a call to action to achieve gender parity. The day also helps people across the globe to reflect on the extraordinary roles played by women in almost every walk of life and celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women.
This year, the United Nations UN) declared the theme as “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality’ to emphasise the importance of technology in bringing gender issues to light. Director General of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Audrey Azoulay, stated in her message for this year’s International Women’s Day that there is a need to ensure that women and girls benefit from the opportunities provided by technological transformation while also ensuring equal footing.
She stated that this year’s day will focus on “innovation and technology for gender equality,” noting that women are four times less likely to have advanced ICT skills, make up less than 20 per cent of the tech workforce, and conduct only 12 per cent of AI research. There is no doubt that gender equality remains an unfulfilled dream. According to the United Nations (UN), legal restrictions have kept 2.7 billion women from accessing the same choice of jobs as men. As of 2019, less than 25 per cent of parliamentarians were women and one in three women experience gender-based violence.
However, many believe that it was time to end the marginalisation and exclusion of women and girls from the scheme of things. Those who hold this view insist that women must be given opportunities and responsibilities to play proactive roles in shaping important decisions. It has further been advanced that for such dream to become a reality, countries across the world, especially developing nations like Nigeria, must first break cultural, historic and socio-economic barriers that prevent the progress of women. No doubt, some Nigerian women have made appreciable marks in the country’s polity, but it is still clamour for 35 per cent participation of women in governance across all tiers of government.
The belief is that improving women participation in government is necessary because it will help to strengthen the nation’s democracy. This explains why some stakeholders, particularly women right activists, have persistently insisted that government at all levels must address exclusion of women from governance. To these stakeholders, the decline in the number of women in elective positions in the present political dispensation explains why the major political parties should see advancement of women representation in public positions as a priority.
2023 polls
While it is indisputable that Nigerian women are still lagging behind in politics and governance at a time it is a global trend for women to be actively engaged, the political space seems to be further shrinking for them given the number of women, who were on the ballot for the 2023 elections.
A total of 16,164 candidates were listed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 1,520 elective positions, however, there was only one female out of the 18 candidates, who contested the presidential election that was won by Asiwaju Bola Tinubi of the All Progressives Congress (APC). The sole female candidate is Princess Chichi Ojei of Allied Peoples Movement (APM). This represents just 2.77 per cent of the contestants. None of the parties fielded a female vice presidential candidate.
In the senatorial election that had 1,101 candidates, who contested the 109 senatorial seats, 92 were women (8.35 per cent), while 288 women out of 3,122 candidates contested for House of Representatives, representing 9.2 per cent. Cumulatively, there were 381 women among a total of 4,230 contestants for the presidency and the National Assembly seats. This represents 8.9 per cent of the contestants.
A state-by-state analysis shows that out of the 36 states of Nigeria, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), five states did not field any woman as a candidate for the Senate, while one state did not field any woman as a candidate for the House of Representatives. The states that lacked in this regard are Kano, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara for senatorial elections and Jigawa for the House of Representatives polls.
For this weekend’s governorship elections in the 28 states that have a total of 837 candidates, there are 24 female candidates, while 100 are gunning for the 28 deputy governorship slots. Only 18 out of the 28 states have female governorship candidates. Six states – Abia, Akwa Ibom, Benue, Delta, Kano and Lagos – top the list with two female governorship candidates each. The other states with female governorship candidates are Adamawa, Borno, Cross River, Ebonyi, Enugu, Jigawa, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Oyo, Rivers and Zamfara (one candidate each). There are no female governorship candidates in Bauchi, Gombe, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Ogun, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba and Yobe states.
The female governorship candidates include Nnennaya Okoro (Abia, PRP), Gladys Ogbuneke (Abia, SDP), Aishatu Dahiru (Adamawa, APC), Mfonobong Ekanem (Akwa Ibom, AA), Emem Udeh (Akwa Ibom, SDP), Roseline Chenge (Benue, ADP), Sharon Dabo-Adzuana (Benue, ZLP), Fatima Abubakar (Borno, ADC) and Marikana Ibiang (Cross River, ADP). Others are Helen Onokiti (Delta, AP), Annabel Cosmas (Delta, APM), Pearl Nweze (Enugu, SDP), Binta Umar (Jigawa, AA), Furera Yakubu (Kano, BP), Aishatu Mahmud (Kano, NRM), Motunrayo Jaiyeola (Kwara, APM), Fumilayo Kupoliyi (Lagos, APM), Abiola Adeyemi (Lagos APP), Patricia Tsakpa (Nasarawa, ADP), Kadija Abdullahi-Iya (Niger, APGA), Gbemi Euba (Oyo YPP), Beatrice Itubo (Rivers, LP) and Hadiza Usman (Zamfara, ZLP). On the number of female governorship candidates fielded by the parties, Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Action Democratic Party (ADP) and Social Democratic Party (SDP) take the lead with three standard bearers each, while Action Alliance (AA), Allied Peoples Party (APP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) have two female governorship candidates each. Nine parties – Accord, All Progressives Congress (APC), Labour Party (LP), African Democratic Congress (ADC), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Booth Party (BP), National Rescue Movement (NRM), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) and Young Progressive Party (YPP) – have a female governorship candidate each.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and African Action Congress (AAC) have no female governorship standard bearer. For the deputy governorship slots, there are no female candidates in three states – Katsina, Taraba and Yobe. Lagos tops the list of states with female deputy governorship candidates with nine candidates. Delta and Ogun states followed closely with eight candidates each. Enugu, Gombe, Akwa Ibom and Plateau states have six female deputy governorship candidates each. Four states – Benue, Rivers, Oyo and Kaduna – have five female deputy governorship candidates each; Abia (four); Adamawa, Kwara and Nasarawa (three each); Bauchi, Borno, Cross River, Ebonyi, Jigawa, Kebbi, Niger, Sokoto and Zamfara (two each) and Kano (one). Among female deputy governorship candidates are Kaleptwa Farauta (Adamawa, PDP), Akon Eyakenyi (Akwa Ibom, PDP), Comfort Ogbaji (Benue, NNPP), Emana Amawhe (Cross River PDP), Funke Akindele (Lagos, PDP), Balarabe Hadiza (Kaduna APC), Noimot Salako-Oyedele (Ogun APC), Tonto Dike (Rivers, ADC) and Josephine Piyo (Plateau PDP).
2019 figures vs 2023
The figures for the 2023 elections show a drop in women’s participation in elections when compared to the 2019 elections. According to INEC’s report on the 2019 polls entitled “Review of the 2019 General Election: Report of the Commission’s Retreats and Stakeholder Engagements,” out of the 73 presidential candidates in that election, six were females.
For vice presidential candidates, women constituted 22 or 30.1 per cent of the 73 candidates. Though, the six female presidential candidates withdrew with some their male counterparts before the election, their interests registered as the respective logos of their parties remained on the ballot. Also in 2019, out of the 1,904 candidates for the senatorial election, there were 235 women (12.3 per cent) of which seven (6.42 per cent) were elected into the Red Chamber.
For the House of Representatives that had 4,680 candidates, 533 women (11.6 per cent) vied for seats although only 11 (3.05 per cent) were elected. Sadly, none of the seven senators in the current 9th National Assembly will return to the 10th Senate even as only three women have won senatorial seats out of the 98 so far declared by INEC. They are Ireti Kingibe (LP, FCT), Aderanti Adebule (APC, Lagos) and Ipalibo Banigo (PDP, Rivers).
Questions over drop
It is indisputable that women participation in the 2023 elections is very negligible compared to the female population as data obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that females constitute 49.4 per cent of Nigeria’s population, while they constitute 47.6 per cent of registered voters.
The questions against these backdrops are: What must have informed the drop in the number of women vying positions in the 2023 elections? Is it as a result of apathy or that the parties made it difficult for them? Other questions are: Does the drop in the number of women vying for elective positions has any correlation to the reduction in the number of political parties as there were 91 in 2019, while 18 were on the ballot for 2023 elections?
Is it due to lack of funds, unfavourable party structure, stereotyping, threat of election violence or that women are not competing enough? Interestingly, President Muhammadu Buhari, in his Independence Day address to the nation on October 1, 2022, said he wants to see increased participation of women and youths in the 2023 elections. His words: “I also want to express my wish that we see more female and youth participation in the forth-coming electoral cycle. I am sure that our teeming and energetic youths now realise that violence generally mar elections and so should desist from being used by politicians for this purpose.”
While some applauded the President then, the question many asked was: How have women faired in terms of appointments, particularly, ministerial positions in his administration? Seven women are presently serving as ministers in the 44-member Buhari cabinet, a development some analysts say, is not enough to motivate more women participation in politics.
The female ministers are Zainab Ahmed (Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning), Sadiya Umar Farouq (Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development), Pauline Tallen (Minister of Women Affairs) and Mariam Yalwaji Katagum (Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment). Others are Sharon Ikeazor, Minister of State for Niger Delta Affairs), Gbemisola Saraki (Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development) and Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu (Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory).
Echoes of affirmative action
There has always been clamour for 35 per cent participation of women in governance across all tiers of government. The belief is that improving women participation in government is necessary because it will help to strengthen the nation’s democracy. However, the drop in the number of women seeking elective offices in the forthcoming general election means that it is a long walk for advocates of gender balance in politics and governance of the country.
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action of 1995 advocated 30 per cent representation for women in government, while Nigerian National Gender Policy pegged it at 35. The policy also seeks to address the imbalance of women representation in the country and attempts to strike a balance. But, like most government’s policies, its implementation has only been on paper as there has been little improvement in women participation in governance since 1999, when Nigeria returned to civil rule except. As it stands, women are still on the back bench in politics and governance and there is no sign that it will get better soon.
Promises have been made to give women more slots in elective and appointive positions. Political parties have even given certain concessions to women to encourage their contest of elective positions, but the impact is yet to be felt. It would be recalled that waivers on nomination fees were extended to female aspirants by the various political parties during the primary elections to nominate candidates for the 2023 elections but few female aspirants showed interest on the presidential tickets of their respective parties. They include Khadijah Okunnu- Lamidi (SDP), Uju Ohanenye (APC), Carol Nwosu (AAC), Patience Key (PRP), Olivia Diana Teriela (PDP) and Angela Johnson (APGA) but none of them scaled the shadow polls hurdle.
A case for legislation
Many have called for legislative changes to ensure a quota system that reserves a fraction of electoral positions for women as some African countries such as Rwanda, Senegal and Kenya have addressed the imbalance of women representation in governance through legislation. However, an attempt in that regard suffered a setback in Nigeria in 2021, when the Senate turned down the Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill sponsored by Senator Biodun Olujimi (PDP, Ekiti South). Olujimi was forced to step down the bill after some senators raised concerns over possible infringement on Islamic morals.
It was the third time the consideration and passage of the bill was frustrated. It was first introduced in the Eighth Senate in March 2016. The bill sought to guarantee the rights of women to equal opportunities in employment, equal rights to inheritance for both male and female children; equal rights for women in marriage and divorce, equal access to education, property/land ownership and inheritance. It also sought to protect the rights of widows; guarantee appropriate measures against gender discrimination in political and public life and prohibit violence against women. A similar move was equally rejected by members of the House of Representatives during voting on the amendment of 1999 Constitution earlier this year. The lawmakers rejected a bill that sought to reserve special seats for women at the National and state Houses of Assembly.
The bill was entitled: “A Bill for an Act to Alter the Provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to Provide for Special Seats for Women at the National and State Houses of Assembly.” Eighty-one lawmakers voted in favour of the bill, while 208 voted against it and 13 members abstained from voting. The lawmakers also rejected a bill for an Act to alter the provisions of the 1999 Constitution to provide for affirmative action for women in political party administration. President of Women In Politics Forum (WIPF), Barr. Ebere Ifendu, who decried the low number of female candidates contesting the 2023 elections, said the development shows the continuous marginalisation of women in the nation’s political space.
She said: “Even without conducting elections, 13.5 per cent of states will not have female representatives at the Senate while 2.7 per cent of states will have no female representation at the House of Representatives.” She, therefore, charged the executive arm of government to ensure compliance with the minimum 35 per cent affirmative action in appointive positions into public offices, in conformity with the National Gender Policy and the judgement of the Federal High Court.
To voters, she charged: “We urge the electorate to ensure that they lend their voices to promote the cause of an inclusive democracy to ensure that women, youths and people with disabilities are included in governance and leadership of our country Nigeria.” While most Nigerian women believe in the promise of an equitable and just political union that consolidates the diverse strengths of citizens, such will remain a mirage until their contribution to the stability, peace and progress of the nation gets the recognition and reward it deserves by granting them more opportunities in politics and governance.