By Olasunkanmi Akoni

THE United Kingdom,UKaid Department for
International Development (DFID) in
collaboration with the Lagos State Deputy
Governor’s office organized a Southwest
Nigeria regional conference on Women in
Governance from 29th to 30th September,
2015.

As a follow up to the one held in February,
2015, the purpose of the conference was to
build synergies between Women in Business
and Private sector, Politics and Civil society to
develop strategies and take actions that will
ensure that the target of 35 percent
participation of Women in Governance will
be met in order to achieve national
developmental goals, with the overarching
objective of Ensuring Better Social Inclusion
and Good Governance At All Levels of
Government.

The conference was themed: “Women’s
Participation in Democratic Governance in
South West Region.”
Dogged pursuit of improved society over the
years has seen significant leaps towards the
attainment of the Millennium Development
Goals, MDGs at all levels and the social
inclusion of women in democratic governance
since 1999.

The agency and state government put the
conference to analyse women participation,
roles in democratic governance in the country
with the aim of adopting actions to bridge
what they termed, “unacceptable” gender gap,
in political representation in the country.
Interestingly, women representation in the
National Assembly since 1999 as a case study
has systematically increased. In the current
8th National Assembly, there are more women
honourable members and Distinguished
Senators over what was produced in 1999,
2003 and 2007. The same goes for the
number of local government chairmen that
were produced.

They noted that no political gathering in
Nigeria is ever complete without women, but
when key positions are to be contested for,
women are not considered for them nor
encouraged to participate.

The participants at the conference who
addressed how women could take advantage
of the minimum standard to a large extent,
contended that just as politics and
governance are siamese twin so should
women and men be on the issues that affect
the lives of both gender especially as it
relates to governance.

They called on President Buhari to provide
more opportunities for women in his emerging
administration.

Oluremi Tinubu, representing Lagos Central
District in the Senate, in her address as a
keynote speaker lamented that the 35 percent
affirmative action for women was not being
followed across all political divides in the
country.

She noted that while more women have come
into governance and participated in elections
since the advent of democratic rule in 1999,
the quest for reaching the 35 percent women
representation must be sustained until it is
achieved and even surpassed.

Tinubu added that since women constitute
more than half of the population and also
majority of voters during the elections, it is
ironical that they are the minority compared
to the male.

“Women constitute about half of the Nigerian
population going by the 2006 census figures.
Women also constitute a great majority in the
voting population, yet they are minority when
you look at the number of candidates running
for elective positions or the few who actually
get elected”.

madridguy:
Women like Diezani Alison-Madueke, Stella Oduah to mention few. Kawon Iya lonsepe jare.

hinwazaka:
Fools, after the foolish President duped them, they want to now try another attempt at infiltrating the President's cabinet. MUFU's, if the President rejected your brothers, what makes you think he will accept your ashawo sisters. #COWARDS.