The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has said that with good ideas, funding and organisation, more Nigerian women will get elected into public offices.
Gbajabiamila noted the 9th House had made gender equality a cardinal point in its legislative agenda, adding that he would personally champion the course of women in the lower chamber of the National Assembly, including spearheading constitutional amendments.
The Speaker made this known in his keynote address at a WIMPOL Dialogue organised by the Women in Management, Business and Public Service on Saturday in Abuja.
He said, “My participation in politics is a legacy of my mother and I owe my achievements in this arena to her. Now, I am a father of daughters for whom I hold the highest ambitions. At the end of my career in politics, it is my hope that I would have contributed constructively to the achievement of a society where my daughters and all our daughters can live up to their highest aspirations, freed from discrimination on the basis of their gender and protected from the worst consequences of our patriarchal society.”
While encouraging women to register and belong to political parties, and participate fully for their voices to be heard, Gbajabiamila also said he would recommend to the National Executive Committee of the ruling All Progressive Congress, the creation of a special fund for women to sponsor their political activities.
The Speaker noted that as a politician, he believed that Nigerian women could also engage in more advocacy, lobby and peaceful protests, among others, to drive home their point to get into more elective positions.
Gbajabiamila said he believes Nigerian women have a lot to offer in politics and governance.
He said, “In my experience, elections are generally won on four things: candidate, ideas, funding and organisation. I believe that if we recruit more inspired candidates, fund them and provide them organisational support to effectively manage their political operations, we will get more women to participate in electoral politics.
“I have heard it said that we can achieve increased gender participation in politics by imposing quotas and allocating elective political office. We cannot on the one hand advocate for a new kind of politics dependent on respect for the basic human right of all people to choose their leaders in free and fair elections without interference and imposition, and on the other hand, argue for the imposition of quotas in elective office.
“This is a fundamentally anti-democratic idea, and the proposition collapses under the weight of its contradictions. The constitution of Nigeria, imperfect as it may be, does not impose any restrictions on women’s participation in politics. In fact, the constitution expressly prohibits any gender-based discrimination.”
