Road to 2023: Women, youths told to address representation deficiencies

From Sola Ojo, Kaduna

As political parties begin the sale of expression of interest and nomination forms ahead of the 2023 general elections, women and youths have been told to rise to the occasion as a way to address the representation deficiencies in political offices at the federal, state and local government levels in the country.

Permanent Commissioner, Kaduna State Peace Commission and a Trustee of Legal Awareness for Nigerian Women (LANW), Barr Rebecca Sako-John made the call at the sideline of the launch of the political mentoring program for women and youths in Kaduna State which is expected to continue till the first quarter of 2023, held at a hotel in Kaduna.

LAWN with the support of Action Aid had developed this mentoring programme based on the need for women and youths to be positively involved in politics; how they can be active members of political parties, good governance, voter apathy and roles they have to play to discourage it among others.

According to her, ‘it is the right and responsibility of women and youths to participate positively in politics as enshrined in the constitution. We also signed international, regional and national policies that promote young people’s participation and promote social justice and equality of rights and they have to take that responsibility very seriously.

‘Again, the participation of these groups of Nigerians will help in addressing participation deficiencies. Already, we have a participation deficit in terms of gender, young people and even people with disability. The number keeps dwindling.

‘As we speak, there are states in the Northwest without a single woman in elective office. For example, Cross River has five women in its House of Assembly which is the highest and Kaduna has just one while some states don’t have at all.

‘So, when we reduce that representation gap, it will reduce inequality, promote integration and inclusion, help to influence policies and meet their development needs at the community level and reduce this current insecurity and until that gap is bridged, I don’t think we will make desire progress” she warned.

Project Coordinator, “We-You Pro” project with support from Action Aid, Hannatu Hauwan said, the launching of the political mentoring programme under the “We-You Pro” project is one of the initiatives in implementing the project in Kaduna State.

‘We had done head-hunting which means talking to political parties to give us women and young persons within their parties who are interested in political mentoring. Our target is 300 women and young people. We are doing this because women and young people are not participating in politics as they should even within political parties.

‘They have been used to clap and serve as political tugs. But, we have noticed that the political parties have begun to review their policies to have women and youths in leadership positions. But we want this to be strategic.

‘Now, one of the things they have been saying is that women and young people do not have the requisite skills and capacity to either participate effectively or to even run for office. So this political monitoring is developed to support women and young people in strengthening their skills to enable them actively participate within the political party space and even run for elective offices” she explained.

A mentee from Rigasa in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Tahir Shuaibu Goma, describes the mentoring programme as good and timely, especially for those who don’t know how to go about becoming active politicians.

‘It is a good programme, especially for people like me who don’t like to be actively involved in politics. This mentoring programme has been able to change my mindset in participating in politics.

‘I registered with All Progressive Congress and I am a card-carrying member of the party. For now, I’m doing my homework as a community person to see how I can effectively participate in the subsequent elections after 2023.’

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