Popular Nollywood artiste, Ini Edo has pledged her committed to improving women’s chances of running for and winning elections in Nigeria.
She made the pledge at her unveiling as the National Democratic Institute’s (NDI) Ambassador for Women’s Empowerment in Abuja.
According to her, it was a critical time for women in Nigeria, and it was necessary for them to dare to do great things in the country for her advancement.
She said, “NDI is addressing two issues that are very important to me; the first is the low percentage of women who serve in public office, on average, in all the parliaments of the world, only one seat out of four is held by a woman.
“This isn’t enough, further, only 16 percent of parliamentarians are under the age of 40 and the larger percentage of these are also men. So, while women make up 50 percent of the population in every country, we are underrepresented in each eligible age group. In Nigeria, I am sorry to say, the number of women in elected office is worse than the world’s average and even worse, than some of our neighbours,” she said.
Edo lamented that women serve in only one elected seat out of 10 in Nigeria and in recent years the number has been declining, hence the need to do better.
“We will all be united in the cause of amending laws and addressing other barriers, to level the playing field so women can compete successfully for elected office in our country,” she added.
She said that her second initiative as NDI’s ambassador for women empowerment would address the problem of violence against women, especially during elections.
According to her, this was because women who run as candidates for offices were physically attacked and viciously attacked in social media and were subjected to horrible insults no person should have to endure.
She said that Nigeria had a special duty to serve as an example for Africa and for the rest of the world so there should be an amendment of laws in ways to increase the number of women in elected office.
Earlier, NDI Nigeria Chief of Party, Dr. Stephen Snook, said that was a none partisan NGO that responds to the worldwide quest for popular civil participation and open competitive systems and representative accountable government.
Snook said that to comprehensively address the barriers to women’s equal participation, it needed strong advocates who would not back down from the challenge.
“We are proud to welcome Ini Edo as an Ambassador to our program, who will raise awareness and support women’s political participation all across Nigeria,” Snook said.
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