12.9% female reps in election too low, group says

An advocacy group, Supporting Advancement of Gender Equity (SAGE) has said the 12.9 per cent female representation in elections in Nigeria is too low.

It is therefore calling for an increase in the participation and representation of women in elections and governance.

Launching the project in support of increasing political participation of Nigerian women in Abuja, the Executive Director, Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI) the organiser of the initiative, Mr Bukola Idowu said, like many other problems in the country, women’s low participation in politics has a deep root in the Nigerian system.

“According to the insight report of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Nigeria ranks 128 of 153 countries in the global gender gap index of 2020. Additionally, Nigeria ranks 146 out of 152 in women’s political empowerment.

“Women made up 47.14% of registered voters in the 2019 general elections. 23,442 candidates were cleared to vie for political positions at all government levels in the 2019 general elections; only 2032 were female. This makes the female representation in the election to be as low as 12.9%. Only 68 of these candidates won the seats they contested for,” he said.

The Gender advocacy officer, KDI, Amina Jatau, also said the goal of SAGE was to increase women’s representation in public office through advocacy for policy and legal reforms.