From Walter Ukaegbu, Abuja
Wife of President Muhammed Buhari, Aisha, has urged women to continue to demand more opportunities to become role models in their endeavors just as Senator Nkechi Justina Nworgu, Chairman of the Governing Board of University of Calabar, has lamented that women are not given the attention they deserve in terms of political participation, economic empowerment and cultural upliftment.
Both women spoke yesterday in Abuja during the 2017 Annual National Women Leadership Conference organized by Lead bold Resource Consulting limited.
According to Senator Nworgu, who delivered the lead paper on, “Leading sustainable change in Nigeria: Accelerating development through effective integration of women in leadership,” said women participation in political decision making process were minimal. She said women were weak economically and, therefore, needed to be empowered through adequate training, political appointments, elimination of violence against them and economic upliftment. She said this would make them see themselves as capable of becoming more active in all spheres of life, but more specifically in political and economic matters.
“The women which constitutes about 50 percent of the total population of the country have, over the decades, been relegated and suffocated to the background of our political and governance structure, and this is unhealthy of for national development,” she said. Nworgu stressed that women, as major stakeholders in the development project of Nigeria, must be given opportunities to participate fully in decision making processes.
She said it had been proven that countries with increased women participation in politics and leadership positions tend to be more inclusive, egalitarian and democratic.
She cited examples of such countries to include USA, Britain, Iceland, Germany, Tanzania, Madagascar and Malawi, among others. Senator Nworgu said, in practice, women face challenges while the number of women in leadership and decision making positions is abysmally low.