Fight For Leadership Positions At The Grassroots, Deputy Speaker Urges Women

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, has advised Nigerian women to extend the advocacy for inclusion in leadership positions to the grassroots level.

He gave the advice in Abuja when he received a delegation from an advocacy group known as Women’s Round-table for Development and Good Governance on   courtesy visit in his office at the National Assembly.

The deputy speaker said it was important for women, aside from the federal legislature, to also advocate to fill other leadership gaps such as councillorship positions in the local government and House of Assembly membership in the states.

Kalu who observed that the advocacy had  centred mainly around the federal legislature, said leadership should start from the grassroots to reflect the bottom to top approach.

He said it was high time women started looking at available opportunities where  various gender imbalances exist and began to drive it.

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Kalu commended President Bola Tinubu for the inclusion of women in his administration and reassured of National Assembly’s commitment to reconsider and pass the rejected gender bills.

He said; “I’m incredibly humbled that you deem it fit to be here today to start your advocacy, early, it appears to me that you have drawn your stakeholders mapping, stakeholders administration lists for the passage of gender related bills. The Office of the Deputy Speaker remains the Chairman of the Committee of the House on constitution review and coming here today means you’re joining forces with other gender based advocates across Nigeria to speak with one voice. I must say that in a society striving for equitable development, addressing fundamental issues like gender equality, inclusiveness is imperative.

“In Nigeria where women and girls constitute 49.32% of our population. The representation in institutions, especially the legislature, like you just mentioned now, which currently has about 4% of the women, needs urgent attention. But beyond that, it is important for women to know that the federal legislature is not only the political platform for their participation, there are other leadership gaps, from councillorship positions in our local government to members of the House of Assembly in our states.

“It appears to me the advocacy has been centred only around federal legislature. That is a top bottom approach. The bottom top approach is that we should accommodate that leadership should start from the grassroots. It’s high time the women started looking at available opportunities.

Leader of the advocacy group, Hon. Princess Nikky Onyeri, appealed to the deputy speaker to help ensure that the gender bills when reintroduced, get the support of his colleagues.

While informing him that they were starting the lobbying and advocacy early, she said the bills before being reintroduced should be domesticated in line with our culture so that men and women in the country will buy into it.