Student Wants Female President

Nigeria is currently undergoing another transition programme from one civilian  administration to another.

Next year, it is expected that a new civilian president will emerge to direct the affairs  of the country.

The presidential aspirants from different political parties have indicated their  intention to run in the next election, but there is one thing I’m sure most of us have  not noticed. All the aspirants are men!

Sometimes, I sit down and wonder why we cannot have at least a “WOMAN” among the  presidential candidates.

Since we became an independent country in 1960, no woman has been given the opportunity  to contest in the presidential elections.

If Nigeria has a woman as her president, there are so many advantage we can enjoy. One of  such benefits is that a woman president can be more honest than men. Where we have an  honest president, then we can begin to think of economic growth.

Furthermore, we all know the popular saying which goes thus: “What a man can do, a woman  can do much better.” Indeed this saying is true because women have proven to be better  leaders than men.

Look at the famous Margaret Thatcher, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom  (1979-1990); she is a woman of virtue, discipline, honour. So also is Africa’s first  elected female president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. They have proven that women can in fact  excel in man’s world.

If  only Nigerians can see the importance of women to national development by making a  woman their next president, they would have a lot to gain.

A female president is most likely to be upright, disciplined and fair. She cannot afford  to fail. Knowing that she  is in a man’s world and would face many challenges, she would  want to prove her worth.

This will make her work very hard and be firm in decision making. If we have a woman who  is firm; bribery and corruption will be curbed.

Similarly, there will be fewer chances of wagging wars. The country, under the rule of a  woman, will be at peace with her neighbours. She will also want to be at peace with  citizens of the country.

I must also state that women are compassionate by nature. They can be firm. If Nigeria  has a woman as  president, she would feel strongly for children, the poor, the widows,  and the less privileged who beg by the roadside. Also, those people who do not have  clothing and shelter will all be taken very good care of.

Finally, if Nigerians can elect a woman as president, it would be a great turning point  in the history of the country. It will also be a honour to have Nigeria’s first woman  president after the long civilian rule.

I am sure that Nigerians will not regret it.

—Asumah Benedicta