Gender equity in governance: Kwara upholds WISCAR’s diversity, inclusivity advocacy

Kwara State is number one in Nigeria’s gender equity, and diversity with 50 percent of women in its cabinet formation in tandem with the Women in Successful Careers’ (WISCAR) advocacy for femininity presence, and fairness in workplaces.

Olufolake Abdulrazaq, the first lady of Kwara State disclosed this in her address at the 2024 annual leadership and mentoring conference of WISCAR, held in Lagos recently.

She said the governor was deliberate about giving women, youth and the physically challenged people a place in the state’s political space.

“Prior to our assumption of office in Kwara State, there was no women in the House of Assembly, but now the state has five female lawmakers, and one of the women is the youngest female legislature ever, she won the election at age 25.

The governor intentionally included the youth and physically challenged in his cabinet. In his first tenure, he actually had more women than men in his cabinet, and in his second tenure, he decided to make 50/50,” she said.

The chairperson of Nigeria governor’s wives forum explained that Kwara State government has the political will for gender diversity, inclusivity, and equity which is the reason the governor ensured that youth under 40 years are included in the cabinet formation, guaranteeing that round pegs are in round holes.

Buttressing on the theme; “Fueling Resilience: Empowering Diversity for Economic Success”, the Kwara State first lady decried the fact that culture and funding limits women participation in Nigeria’s political space. She called for a review of the country’s political culture and money politics to allow women inclusivity.

“Funding and culture tweaking is essential to having more women in Nigeria’s politics. Unconscious bias in political space, sexual and gender-based violence must be stamped out of Nigerian political system,” she said.