Angela Muruli, the programme analyst of UN Women, says 50 percent of Nigeria’s elective positions should be allotted to women in the 2023 general election.
Muruli said this in an interview with journalists at the inauguration of the Network of Young Women in Politics in Abuja, on Tuesday.
She expressed concern over the poor representation of Nigerian women in elective and leadership positions which, she said has remained the lowest in the world.
Maruli said it was relevant for Nigerian women to be involved in politics because women in leadership make decisions that benefit the entire society.
“For starters, Nigeria has almost the lowest representation for women in sub-Saharan Africa and in fact in the world,” she said.
“So for the giant of Africa, it is quite worrying that half the population are not ably represented by people who look like them in spaces of power.
“There is no necessary number for best practice but we live in a world where 50 percent or even maybe slightly more women are. So what we would like to see globally are societies where women have equal participation, so that is 50-50.”
Ebere Ifendu, president of Women in Politics Forum, who said the programme was geared towards the 2023 general election, encouraged women that they have the capacity to be in government.
“I have always said 50-50, I have never been an advocate of affirmative action. It is important for women to actually know that this thing is something we can all do; we have the capacity as much as the men,” Ifendu added.
