Women groups and other stakeholders have called on President Bola Tinubu to accommodate more women in his government.
The call was made at a media dialogue organised by Women Radio 91.7 FM at the weekend, in commemoration of the two years landmark judgment on 35 percent affirmative action.
Amina Agbaje, national president of International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Nigeria, lamented that the administration appointed less women as ministers, adding that if women were considered good enough to vote and campaign during elections, they should be considered good enough to be appointed into various political positions.
She added that there was a need to sustain and continue the demand for more women’s representation.
Rasheedat Medupin of Sustainable Gender Action Initiative (SGAI) stated that the government needs to partner with civil society organisations to intensify efforts to implement the 35 percent affirmative action and also make Nigeria a nation where women’s voices are heard. Medupin, who appealed to the government to uphold the judgment of April 6, 2022 by appointing more women into positions, added that Nigeria needs to accept women as accomplished leaders and ensure that gender policies are implemented.
Marshal Abubakar of Falana & Falana Chambers, government urged Nigerian women to go back to court to get the judgment enforced should the Tinubu administration fail to uphold it, while also calling for the need to engage with stakeholders at the national assembly to canvass for constitutional amendment to allow women occupy more seats.
Ngozi Nwosu-Juba of Vision Spring Initiatives emphasised the need to involve more women at grassroots and return back to court to get the judgment enforced. Nwosu-Juba recommended that the ongoing constitutional review should be taken advantage of to revisit the five gender bills to make up for the lack of women in governance.
Similarly, Zainab Yahaya Tanko of Nigerian Women Trust Fund expressed the view that women have the numbers and must be adequately represented, while also calling for the need to intensify efforts until the judgment is implemented.
The consensus of the media dialogue was that the government must implement in full, its own National Gender Policy that has been further made mandatory through the April 6, 2022 landmark judgment in favour of Nigerian women.
The case was won by Nigerian women with pro bono support from Falana and Falana Chambers.