Groups Lobby President Tinubu for Inclusion of More Women in Ministerial Appointments

Henry Okonkwo

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been reminded of his campaign promises to implement the Affirmative Action policy that stipulates a 35 per cent benchmark for the inclusion of women in governance.

Affirmative action for women is a policy adopted all over the world aimed at addressing historical and systemic inequalities against womenfolk. While the United Nations in its charter recommended a minimum threshold of 30% participation, Nigeria in its National Gender Policy (NGP)set a benchmark of 35% inclusion of women in governance. But since the formulation of the NGP in 2006, no administration has ever met the 35% affirmative action threshold for women.

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In a recent virtual conference organised by WFM 91.7 to deliberate on how to compel the President Tinubu administration to consider affirmative action and gender equity as Nigerians await the unveiling of his ministerial appointment monitored by Franktalknow and  AF24NEWS, the women groups and stakeholders advocated for Affirmative Action to ensure gender parity in his ministerial appointments.

According to them, the implementation of the 35% affirmative action will lead to increased participation of women during decision-making processes and better representation of marginalised voices.

One of the panellists, Mufuliat Fijabi, the CEO of the Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF), expressed her dismay at President Tinubu’s early appointments, where out of 28 positions only five came to women. According to Fijabi, this does not inspire hope for women’s participation in this administration.

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“I am very worried by President Tinubu’s first set of appointments. In past governments, women would lobby and still not achieve the 35% benchmark. Asking for women’s inclusion is not just lip service. Affirmative action is about the governance of Nigeria. It’s about having development grow in the right direction and having a purposeful path towards ensuring that gender equality and balance are maintained in the country. So I’m particularly concerned, but I hope this Tinubu government will be different by ensuring that it not only fulfils its campaign promise but also upholds the judgement of the Federal High Court on the NGP,” Fijabi said.

Also speaking, Amina Agbaje, National President of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), urged President Tinubu to obey the April 6th 2022 judgment and discard efforts by the past administration to appeal against it. She also expressed the need to involve the wife of the president, the First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, in the struggle for the enforcement of the national gender policy.

She said, “There is a need for us to involve the wife of the president in this struggle for the enforcement of the national gender policy, particularly the 35% Affirmative Action for women in appointments. We must move as a coalition of women and immediately seek an audience with the First Lady, who will also lead us to the president so that we can brief him on the pending appeal.

“So women must be able to speak with one voice and the issue of unity is very important. We cannot afford to be singing these discordant tunes at this moment. We have believed in the abilities and the political will of Mr President to get up to the 35% that we are looking for as women. This is because we have seen how he has supported his wife, and other women when he was governor of Lagos,” Agbaje added.

Mr. Saka Azimazi, former Deputy Director of the National Human Rights Commission, insisted that the implementation of affirmative action shouldn’t be a matter of debate; rather it should be a right of women. He argued that Nigeria has a lot to lose if affirmative action keeps being neglected and cited the importance of women’s strong representation during decision-making processes.

He said, “We shouldn’t be begging anyone for this because we are demanding that justice and fairness be considered when putting people in government. There are two ways to get into government, either by election or by appointment. And clearly, women have lost out in the election, but then government appointments are another avenue for them to come into leadership.”

Azimazi argued that Nigeria has a lot to lose if affirmative action keeps being neglected. “We need to have women representation because if you look at population distribution in Nigeria, it is split 50-50 in every area between men or women. It implies that if women are not included in certain areas of the economy or decision-making, we are depriving ourselves of about 50% of our workforce, intellectual property, and power. This is unacceptable.

“So it is crucial that women have strong representation because there is a certain perspective that can only be provided by women during key decision-making,” he added.

Also, Adewunmi Ononuga, Deputy Chief Whip House of Representatives, stressed that women’s representation must be increased and called on women to brace up in lobbying the FG towards implementing affirmative action. “We women must keep going on with regard to lobbying. We really have to put on our shoes and our skirts and lobby with regards to hitting the 35% affirmative action. Lobbying is a route to follow, and not necessarily trying to compel the FG,” she added.