From Magnus Eze and Chizzy Iwuamara, Abuja
The National Council for Women Societies (NCWS) has said it would enter into agreement with any political parties that are willing to adhere to the 35 per cent affirmative action.
This was as wife of the president; Hajia Aisha Buhari decried the progressive decline in number of women in political positions since 2015.
President of NCWS, Mrs. Gloria Shoda disclosed this at a two-day Nigeria Political Stakeholders Summit organised by the NCWS in Abuja.
Shoda who described the situation as troubling stated that there was need to carefully develop a framework to enable women work together as a group to leverage on their strength and huge numbers.
She vowed that under her watch, women will no longer agonise and complain of their conditions; instead, they shall strategize and take their rightful position.
According to her, the NCWS “will negotiate and partner with any political party that is willing to implement the 35 per cent affirmative action in filling its political party leadership positions; selection of candidates for the next general elections; prioritise women issues in its manifestoes; and implement the 35 per cent affirmative action in its appointments when it wins elections.”
She noted that they would in the weeks ahead commence broad-based consultations with stakeholders across the registered political parties, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), media, academia, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and donor institutions among others.
Mrs Buhari also lamented that instead of the number of women in the National Assembly increasing from what it was in 1999; it had continued to decline abysmally.
Represented by former Minister of Science and Technology, Mrs. Pauline Tallen, she called for more participation of women in elective and appointive positions.
“We must love one another; be humble at our various constituencies and identify with the cause of our people. Nigerians are very simple and easy people to manage; they appreciate the little we do for them,” she stated.