30th September, 2015
Senator representing Lagos Central Senatorial District in the Senate, Senator Oluremi Tinubu and the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr Idiat Adebule joined other women to express their regrets at the dwindling number of women in governance and leadership positions, agreeing that the 35% affirmative action for women is not being followed across all political divides in the country.
The Senator and deputy governor who were speaking Thursday at a two-day conference organized by the Department For International Development (DFID) in partnership with the Office of the Deputy Governor of Lagos, held in Lagos, were unanimous in their call for an improvement in the positions available to women, both in elective and appointment, in government and called on President Muhammadu Buhari to provide more opportunities for women in his emerging administration.
Senator Tinubu in her keynote address at the event noted that while more women have come into governance and participated in elections since the advent of democratic rule in 1999, charged that the quest for reaching the 35% women representation must be sustained until it is achieved and even surpassed.
She noted that since women constitute more than half of the population and also the majority of voters during the elections, it is ironical that they are the minority compared to the male candidates for election and also those who eventually get elected.
“Looking at statistics, women constitute about half of the Nigerian population going by the 2006 census figures. Women also constitute a great majority in the voting population, yet they are minority when you look at the number of candidates running for elective positions or the few who actually get elected.
“The time has come for more women to move-on to leadership positions. This is the time when our number should increase geometrically even beyond the 35% for which we have been demanding over the years,” Senator Tinubu declared.
She added that the average Nigerian woman combines the task of keeping her home, taking care of the children and also pursuing a career creditably well and as such she must be encouraged to seek higher leadership positions, which she said should go beyond electing a larger number of women in positions but also changing the perception that public office is only for the men.
Tinubu enjoined women to support one another and use their numerical advantage to challenge the current situation, which she noted is not to undermine the men but to ensure that the voices of the women are heard and their roles in contributing to a better Nigeria is acknowledged and respected by the men.
While sounding a note of caution to women already in government and other leadership positions, Senator Tinubu enjoined them to live up to the billing and the responsibilities of the office they occupy.
She challenged them to live a worthy legacy through their performance whilst in office and in their service to humanity and also acting as role models to upcoming women, noting that it is when this is achieved that the call for more women representation can be properly considered and respected by the male dominated public service.
In her welcome address at the opening of the conference, the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr Idiat Adebule, stated that the conference was organized to sustain discussion on women participation in governance and democratic process in Nigeria and to re-assess the awareness and motivation for women to encourage them to be more involved in governance.
The Deputy Governor noted that while the role of women in political process and governance is important and has been acknowledged, women themselves are not aware of their political advantage and how to use such advantage to get more positions for women in government, lamenting that women are usually relegated to praise singers and crowd pullers at political gathering but never seriously considered when key positions are being shared or contested for.
She said the conference was not to advocate displacement of men from governance but an avenue to insist that women be given the chance to be active and seen as partners in progress to the men as the quest for a developed and prosperous country is achieved.
“It must be established that we are not and should not be advocating the displacement of men from the governance stage but we must remain resolute in our calls for more women to be given the chance to be active and important partners and this is the platform this conference provides for women to understand the issues militating against them while also learning from other accomplished women,” Adebule stated.
Some of the paper presenters included Director Human resources, MTN, Amina Oyagbola, former first lady of Ekiti State, Erelu Bisi Fayemi; Presidential candidate of the KOWA Party, Prof Remi Shonaiya among others.
The conference was attended by the First Ladies of Osun, Oyo and Lagos state, former deputy governor of Lagos State, Princess Sarah Sosan, APC Women leader, Mrs Kemi Nelson, Lagos State Head of Service, Mrs Folashade Jaji, women political and corporate leaders from across the southwest region and Kwara State.