Only six women were appointed ministers out of the thirty seven ministerial portfolios during President Muhammadu Buhari’s first term in office.
This is, however, in contrast with the decision of newly elected South African President, Cyril Ramophosa, who recently constituted a gender-balanced cabinet consisting fourteen (14) women and fourteen (14) males into the twenty eight (28)-member cabinet.
President Buhari is expected to release the names of his ministers any time from now, which would drive his ‘next level’ transformation agenda after being sworn-in for a fresh four-year term.
Buhari, a candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), assumed power in 2015, after defeating then incumbent Goodluck Ebele Jonathan of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in a historic election.
Despite accounting for almost half the voting population in Africa’s biggest economy, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBC), and forming about 47.14 percent (39,598,645 million) of the 84,004.084 million registered voters nationwide, according to the Independent National electoral Commission (INEC), women’s appointments into elective positions declined significantly during Buhari’s first term compared to the previous administration of Jonathan that gave 32.5 percent of cabinet positions to women.
This has fuelled agitations among political observers and female politicians that more women should be appointed into Buhari’s cabinet and other public office this time around.
One of the recommendations of the European Union Election Observation Mission which submitted its report on the 2019 general election recently is the introduction of a legal requirement for political parties to have a minimum representation of women among candidates.
Perhaps, the ugly picture could best be painted in the number of women elected into public offices in Nigeria after the 2019 general election, which declined significantly, stalling progress made in the past years.
A recent 2019 general election result statistic released by INEC, showed that 63 women were elected into elective positions across the country, amounting to an infinitesimal 4.17 percent of elected officials, representing a decline from the 2015-19 period, where women formed 5.65 percent of elected officials.
“Given what is happening across the world, where we have seen more women being appointed and elected into public offices, it is important for Nigeria to follow suit,” Abiola Akinyode, aformer chairperson of Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) and law lecturer in the University of Lagos, said.
According to Akinyode, “Women are less corrupt and efficient; you saw what Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Obiageli Ezekwesili achieved when they were there.
“Buhari needs to do more, he should follow Jonathan’s example; where we had 14 female ministers; they brought change and were able to address corruption and provide purposeful leadership.”
“Governance will be better for it; there is no research which says men are better leaders and in governance than women; we need to appoint them,” Akinyode added.
One of President Buhari’s key promises during the campaign for re-election in 2019 was a promise to engage more youths and women in his administration, if he won. Pundits have therefore urged him to keep to his promise and back his word with action as he constitutes his cabinet.
In her bid for the speakership position in the 9th Assembly, Nkiruka Onyejeocha, member representing Isuikwuato/
Recently, a group of women from Kogi State decried the decline of women in elective positions in Nigeria in this dispensation, calling for a female governor in the state as well as in other parts of the country in the nearest future.
Natasha Akpoti, the senatorial candidate for Kogi Central Senatorial District on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the last election, made the call when the women group visited her in Abuja to show solidarity over her case at the Election Petitions Tribunal, where she is challenging the result of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which declared the candidate of the APC, Yakubu Oseni as the winner.
Akpoti said: “The strength of a man is physical but the strength of a woman is the heart. Women are more resilient and we can bear pain more than men; women also have empathy and humanity that is why we are mothers. We have the ability to nurture, we are builders and molders, we are shapers of the society and it is very important that the Nigerian society recognises these. And it’s believed that countries that have more women in power have less corruption, have better health care system, better education because we all care about our children.”
According to her, “I did not intend to go to the Senate because I want to enrich myself or that I want to be famous, I want to go in there to see how we can revive that steel plant and see how we can use legislations so that the industries can work and create the needed jobs.”
Analysts have said that part of the factors militating against women in politics is cultural. They point to the fact that women were said to belong to the kitchen even as recent as 2015 when President Buhari joked outside the country that his wife Aisha belonged to the “other room”.
Added to this is that of financial challenge where women find it difficult to muster the huge amount of money to purchase nomination forms from their parties, let alone bankrolling expensive electioneering campaigns. These disadvantages may have conspired to shut women away from elective political offices.
Remi Sonaiya, a professor of French Language and Applied Linguistics, Obafemi Awolowo University, who contested the presidency in 2015 on KOWA Party platform, shared her experience withBDSUNDAY in an exclusive interview.
“When I contested the last time, people continued asking me for money. But I said I had no money to give, but good governance if I am voted in. I tried to make them understand that if they collect money from politicians, they are mortgaging their future and the future of their children. KOWA does not believe in buying votes, we believe in offering quality governance that will benefit everybody in the end. We can’t be throwing money away in the guise of contesting elections; we have to rethink our priorities,” she said.
Although there is no indication yet, when the President would constitute his cabinet or make key appointments in his administration, it is believed that unlike in his first term, he is likely to increase the quota for women this time around, in line with his campaign promises to youths and women.
Recall that on Sunday, March 3, 2019, while speaking at the All Progressives Congress (APC) Women and Youths Presidential Campaign team dinner to celebrate his re-election in Abuja, President Buhari had restated his campaign promises to women and youths, saying he would give them more appointments in the next four years of his administration.
Buhari acknowledged the significant role played by women and youths toward his re-election, saying his administration would not disappoint them.
Advising the President to change his style this time around, Motunrayo Alaka, an analyst from the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism, said needs to address complaints of lop-sidedness and gender imbalance which characterised his first term cabinet.
“I think a lot of Nigerians would be interested in what the government wants to do, and how they involve the female gender will tell how serious they are. But Nigerians are not happy with the few appointments so far,” Alaka said.
“I think the APC has shown over the years that they are not interested in gender mainstreaming; if you look at the principal officers in the National Assembly, even the minority positions that should go to women are not given to them; so, what are we saying?
“This government is not gender-sensitive, not interested, it would be interesting to see how they go about their appointments; if it would be gender-spread compared to the first term or not,” she further said.
Iniobong Iwok
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