About 24 days to the presidential election, the Canadian high commissioner to Nigeria, Jamie Christoff has said that Nigeria has one of the lowest representation of women in politics in the world.
Christoff stated this at the launching of election security assessment, a gender perspective ahead of the 2023 general election.
Analyzing threats, vulnerabilities, and the opportunity cost of prevalent insecurity in Abuja, yesterday, Christoff said having women play a greater role in decision-making, particularly at the political level, contributes to governance that works for everyone.
“While some progress has been made to move the yardstick forward, there’s more work to be done. These issues become particularly visible during election periods, specifically, we are witnessing alarming acts of violence, harassment, and intimidation targeting politically active women in many parts of the country.
“The safety of women as critical stakeholders in Nigeria, and the democratic process cannot be overemphasized; this is why we strongly believe in our partnership with an ElectHer, a civil society group under the Canada fund for local initiatives programme.
“The High Commission of Canada is proud to partner with ElectHer in our efforts to mitigate violence against women in the context of elections and raise public awareness on these issues as well,” he said.
In her opening remarks, the chief executive officer of ElectHer, Ibijoke Faborode, said the report they are launching focuses on analyzing trends, vulnerability, and also the opportunity cost of insecurity in the 2023 general election, adding that, “We are at a very defining period in the history of Nigeria, and that is why the launching of this report is very important.”
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