NGOs train female politicians on leadership positions

By Aderogba George

The Gender Strategy Advancement Initiative and SheForum Africa, Non-Governmental Organisations, on Wednesday, trained young female politicians on how to attain leadership positions in the country.

The NGOs said this on Wednesday at a round table discussion titled “The Godmother’s mentorship series” in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the round table discussion is aimed at building the capacity of women to contest for leadership positions in 2027 general elections.

The Founder, SheForum Africa, Mrs Inimfon Etuk, said that there was no point waiting until 2027 before the female folks could start galvanising themselves for the realisation of gender equality in the country’s political arena.

Etuk said her organisation had realised  that no group could do it alone in building Nigeria to the desire of many.

“No one person, no one organisation can do it alone; we all know there are a lot of target right now globally, there is the United Nations 2030 target for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“Part of the SDG goals is gender equality, there is also goal which talks about partnership, our target in Nigeria is geared towards the achievement of democratic dispensation by 2027.

“We are getting ready for the election, there is so much that has happened within the light of our politics in Nigeria. We don’t need to wait until the year of election before we need to start gearing up for it.

“We want to influence who emerge as candidates of political parties, the advocacy that is on the table right now is that we are targeting the political parties.

“We want political parties to fill female candidates for the 2027 general elections, we want to leverage on the strength of numbers of women and young people in Nigeria,” she said.

Sen. Biodun Olujimi, who called for a backup of the legislation for the realisation of gender equality in Nigeria, added that the only way was to achieve such aim.

Olujimi recalled that Sierra Leone was able to back such idea with legislation before it could have 50/50 equal gender representation in its parliament.

Olujimi also mentioned Senegal as having 42/58 per cent inclusivity of both gender in its parliament, adding that there was need to encourage younger people to fill the political space in Nigeria.

Mrs Toyin Saraki, Founder, Well-being Foundation Africa, emphasised the need for knowledge transformation into young female Nigerians, adding that that was the reason why some of them were invited to the programme.

“We are invited here basically to this roundtable to begin to talk about knowledge transformation, especially in the different generational ways. Some of us have become experts to meet with the younger experts.

“We are putting together modalities by which we expose them, to also spring up and learn from each other, so that by the time the next election takes place in Nigeria, we would have exposed more people who wish to take up leadership positions.

“We must understand investment in the education of our children, it is one of the process of development of a child, we must begin to grow children in the right way before they grow to become adult,” she said.

Mrs Adaora Sydney-Jack, Executive Director, Gender Strategy Advocacy International, said the Godmother Mentorship Series was all about closing the gap for leadership especially for young women in Nigeria.

Sydney-Jack emphasised the need to change the narrative in order to have more women in political positions in the country.

Ene Obi, Former Country Director, ActionAid Nigeria, said, “the time is now for Nigeria to shun the issue of god-fatherism in politics and allow more women to participate in it.

“The capacity building is an inter-generational mentorship initiative aimed at nurturing more women into leadership positions in the country.

“Few women are in the leadership positions in the country, and this is so abysmal for a country like Nigeria known as the giant of Africa, and we are suppose to serve as example to others. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Deji Abdulwahab