Helen Nsirim
The Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF) says it is currently canvassing for a 50 percent affirmative action for women in Nigeria political space.
The programme officer of Nigerian Women Trust Fund NWTF, Mrs Lois Chinedu said this during a two-day capacity building workshop in Port Harcourt to train rural women on Leadership Skills, Communication and Community Mobilization for Women.
Lois Chinedu noted that the workshop was organized to change the narrative owing to the low participation and representation of women in politics and governance in Nigeria.
The resource person and programme officer of NWTF, Mrs Lois Chinedu noted that women need to get more involved in governance to help promote gender equality.
She revealed that statistics have shown that few women participated in the last general elections.
Lois Chinedu further said that the percentage of women in leadership positions is not even up to the 35 percent affirmative action as enshrined in the National Gender Policy of 2006, and revealed that the NWTF is currently proposing a 50 percent affirmative action.
Also speaking at the workshop, Mrs Dabota Daniella Godswill Jumbo, a member of the Governing Council Federal College of Education Yola expressed her growing concerns about the gender imbalance in political leadership in Nigeria.
She charged the participants to start active participation and mobilization of women in local politics.
At the end of the two-day workshop, participants thanked the organizers of the programme and promised to enlighten other women in their communities, as well as participate actively in their various political wards.
