Deputy Governorship Seats Should Be Left For Women, CSO Advices Political Parties

A call has been made by a Civil Society organisation, Brain Builders Youth Development Initiative, that political parties should, as a matter of policy, reserve the position of deputy governors for women in the 36 states.

According to the group, the statistics of women’s distribution in Nigeria’s political space is grim and unimpressive, therefore reserving such positions for them will encourage female participation in politics of the country.

The CSO made the suggestion in Ilorin, Kwara state capital while launching the ‘Space For Her’ programme, designed to encourage more women to secure more seats in both the executive and legislative arms of government in the country.

It added, “The Independent National Electoral Commission in one of its reports, disclosed that only 13 percent of the 24,353 candidates that contested for various elective positions in the 2019 general elections were women.

“Available data reveals that women constitute less than 5 percent of the total number of lawmakers in the National Assembly (Senate and House of Representatives).

“Of the 109 legislators in the Senate, only 8 of them are females, while out of the 360 members of the House of Representatives, just 11 of them are women.

“Across the country, we have a total of 990 lawmakers in the State Assemblies and only 40 of them are women. Of the 43 ministers we have in the cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari, only 7 of them are female.

In his own address, the project lead, Tolulope Gbenro, stressed the need for the creation of a safe and enabling environment that allows women to engage meaningfully in decision-making and take part in high-profile activities.