An All Progressives Congress (APC) stakeholder in Nasarawa State, Dr Fatimah Abdullahi has called for the appointment of women into cabinet positions by the incoming government at the centre.
Abdullahi was a gubernatorial aspirant of the APC, in Nasarawa State in the run up to the 2023 elections, and national convener, Tinubu Awareness Movement (TAM).
Addressing journalists yesterday in Lafia, she said the call has become necessary due to the disturbing low women involvement in politics and governance in the country.
According to her, although Nigeria’s National Gender Policy provided for the allocation of 35 percent of all appointments to women going by the affirmative action, their participation in public governance has indicated a substantial decline over the years.
She said available data showed that the figure has plummeted despite the country having four transitions within the last two decades.
She said between 2003 to 2007 women’s participation in public governance at the national level was 41%, but pointed out that the figure had declined to 29% between 2007 and 2011, while it further declined to 25% between 2011-2015, dropped 23% between 2015 and 2019 and is currently at 17% .
“Currently, it is very disheartening to discover that, of the 360 members of the House of Representatives in the just concluded election, only 13 are women, and out of 109 senators, only two are women.
“Similarly, in Nasarawa State today, no single woman is in the State House of Assembly. The percentage of women in leadership positions is grossly inadequate, considering that with a population of over 200 million, women in Nigeria constitute about 49.47%, according to the World Bank,” she lamented.
She therefore urged the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to bridge huge gap “made more glaring by the outcome of the national assembly elections”, by appointing more women in leadership and decision-making positions.
