Female legislators of the 9th National Assembly, under the distinguished banner of Women in Parliament (WIP) have demanded 35% of appointments in the 10th Assembly leadership.
The legislators called on the President-elect, Bola Tinubu to enforce the National Gender Policy of Nigeria, NGP.
The WIP members, who expressed their views during a joint press conference with the Nigerian Women Trust Fund, NWTF urged Tinubu to uphold the rule of law and integrate women into appointive offices.
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They insisted that anything less than 35% would not be acceptable.
The Chief Executive Officer of NWTF, Mufuliat Fijabi observed that despite the country’s adoption of the NGP and other international instruments, women continue to be marginalized in politics and decision-making processes.
Fijabi was optimistic that Tinubu’s regime would change the narrative and ensure greater inclusion of women in governance.
The leader of WIP and Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Women in Parliament, Taiwo Oluga, representing the Ayedaade/Irewole/Isokan federal constituency of Osun State, highlighted the paramount importance of gender mainstreaming in governance.
She believes that women constituted over 50 per cent of the population and that their contributions to nation-building could not be overemphasised.
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Oluga said:
“We have competent women who can occupy appointive offices across the board and contribute to delivering the dividends of democracy to the people. It is, therefore, imperative that the incoming administration mainstreams women in appointive offices as prescribed in the National Gender Policy and other international instruments. We cannot accept anything less than 35 per cent.”
The Speaker of the House of Representatives contestant, Miriam Onuoha, and the two aspirants for Deputy Speaker, Adewunmi Onanuga and Tolulope Akande-Sadipe, have also called for greater inclusion of women in leadership positions.
They were confident that the incoming administration would prioritize the crucial NGP topic.
