Mrs Nkoyo Toyo, Former Nigerian Ambassador to Ethiopia and Djibouti, has disclosed that Nigeria’s 35 per cent Affirmative Action (AA) policy, was not working.
Toyo made the assertion on Saturday in Calabar during a one-day stakeholder meeting organised by Gender and Development Action (GADA), on boosting female representation in the nation’s politics.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that AA was formulated in 2006 by the National Gender Policy (NGP) demanding that 35 per cent of women be involved in all governance processes; however, this is not practised as structures and processes to use are not in place.
The development and gender activist who represented Calabar Municipality/Odukpani Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives between 2011 and 2015 said in the last 25 years instead of seeing a significant increase in women in national positions, there has been a decline.
She said this growing concern led to the UNwomen raising funds with support from the Canadian Government and global funds to see how they could raise women’s voices in leadership in Nigeria.
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According to her, the meeting is to help women brainstorm on what they can do differently to achieve a better result in the coming Local Government Election in Cross River and also the 2027 general elections because affirmative action is not working.
“From this meeting, we have also had that a lot of the problem is with the women because one of the questions put forward was how many women in the meeting were even proactively thinking about getting into politics?” She said.
“As women, folding our hands and doing nothing was not an option that was why we are gathered here to have these conversations towards the LG polls and 2027 general election,” she added.
Similarly, Mrs Edema Irom, Cross River’s Commissioner for Women Affairs, said as they approached party congresses in the nation, the women are saying they are no longer interested in the position of women leaders.
Irom said the women need to be in the boardrooms too because that was the only way to speak to inclusion practically.
She said, in the last local government elections in Cross River, 12 women became vice chairman but this time, they wanted 12 women local government chairman while the men be their vice.
She added that with proper advocacy, lobbying consultations and buy-in, it was possible, depending on what the women were doing today.
On her part, Mrs Mercy Akpama, Member Representing Yakurr II in the Cross River House of Assembly, charged women to come out for Leadership positions in their churches, village meetings, neighbourhood associations and political parties.
Akpama who is the only elected woman in the Cross River House of Assembly said she was not happy, adding that, as the LG polls drew nearer, they would approach the wife of the governor and work hard for more leadership positions in the state for women.
NAN also reports that Cross River has no female representation in the Senate and House of Representatives, only one female member in the State House of Assembly, and seven out of 31 commissioners in the state (NAN)