By Zika Bobby
Director, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Lagos, Waheed Ishola, has urged women to wrest power from their male counterparts in elective positions to make a difference in politics and governance in Nigeria.
Ishola made the call during the Advancing Women in Governance and Political Participation, a one-day development forum/workshop held in Lagos, organised by the International Press Centre (IPC), Lagos with the support of UKAID, through the Department for International Development (DFID) and ACTIONAID Nigeria.
He said no one would give power to women unless they fight for it.
“You have to come together to seize power. You also have to be ready to make sacrifices to attain power as power cannot be obtained without sacrifices. 2019 is your time, and it is up to you to ensure you are elected into office,” he said.
Representative of the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Lagos, Ijeoma Okey-Igbokwe, said INEC is interested in women participation in politics.
“The commission is working assiduously to have a gender-balanced democracy. INEC, in every state, has a gender unit to support women in politics.”
“We encourage them through programmes and legal framework to help them become active members in all parties. Women have potential in all cadres to take over governance in the country and should not see contesting as a competition, rather a healthy exercise to show their strength and be counted for,” she said.