By Daniel Kanu
Dame (Dr) Blessing Nwagba is an accomplished grassroots politician who has represented Aba North Constituency twice in the Abia State House of Assembly on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
She later moved to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and became the governorship candidate of the party in the 2019 elections.
The down-to-earth politician, who has now pitched her tent with the All Progressives Congress (APC) in this exclusive chat with Sunday Sun opened up on Abia politics, women protest at the National Assembly, APC leadership and her fears for Nigeria, among other national issues. Excerpt:
How prepared are you again for the governorship race in Abia State?
I am still looking at the political scenario, understudying the situation. It is very unlikely. My thinking is that after the convention (APC national convention) things will normalize in our party, we will be able to work as a team, as well as ensure we build a great party. I am quite optimistic that after the convention things will change for the better and we take it up from there.
Most people believe that Abia is a traditionally Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) state? Do you think your new party, APC, has a chance?
Things are changing and changing fast. Abia has been ruled by the PDP, but as we speak the party also is enmeshed in its own crisis and one cannot also say that the party’s performance is fantastic. The people want a change. You cannot say PDP can win Abia as things stand today. What we are expecting is that the people may likely vote for persons, individuals, not political parties. Abia voters will go for those that have character, those they can trust, those with credibility.
What is your reaction to the zoning controversy raging on at the moment?
That is the issue on the table now, they will resolve it. It’s politics, they will resolve it.
How would you react to the women’s protest at the National Assembly concerning their low representation?
The demonstration of women at the National Assembly on the five gender bills for the 2022 Amendment bill for me is a very noble cause. The women are asking that the five bills that deal with gender issues be passed into law. You will recall that Nigeria is a signatory to the Beijing conference and several other charters and documents at the international levels and these include the issue of women inclusion in critical areas, governance (politics), but you discover that domesticating those bills in Nigeria has been a very hardnut to crack, it has been very difficult. Whenever those issues come on board they are rejected. There are other matters concerning women like the widowhood right was rejected and the reason is simple: men do not fully understand our cause, they don’t believe in our fight, let me say most men, so as not to generalize it. More than 80 per cent of the men do not believe in our cause and we think that it is we the women that are wearing the shoe that knows where it pinches. We are the ones that are feeling this none actualisation of our life ambitions and dreams. We are the ones who are feeling the issues of patriarchy meted out on us on every side you turn to. It is only us (the women) who feel the pain. How you go to school and you come out with a man (or male) and the man attends to various top positions and you (the women) are segregated against even with your sound background, educationally and otherwise. In job descriptions, in issues of payment, in so many areas, you have this deprivation and segregation, even in domestic matters, in families, in technology, in courses like the sciences etc, we are denied of certain things that continue to make the women not actualize their life ambition as we (women) are treated as underdogs, as unequal and this affects part of their productivity and the actualisation of their life goals. Of course, for a nation like Nigeria, it also impacts on their productivity because women constitute over 49 per cent of the population and when you refuse to empower such a huge population, a productive population, you are denying yourself (the country) of what they would have gained from such productivity. So, what the women are doing in their agitation is very right. First, they are equal citizens of the country.
But some critics are saying that women should struggle and work hard to earn the positions they want rather than weeping up sentiments of marginalisation or segregation…?
(Cuts in) I know some people; men in particular will say they (women) should earn their position. Of course, we have tried to ensure we earn it, but you must understand the society that we are, it’s patriarchal, male-dominated and it has been there over the years. What we are now talking of is affirmative action. Where there is this traditional way of denying people their rights for so long, it has become a tradition; there must be a conscious way of bridging the gap. It has become a tradition here for the male to deny women of their rights, to make them feel unacceptable to society. So because of that, they are not able to actualize themselves socially, politically, economically, and all of that. As a result, you need to encourage them, there has to be a definite conscious effort to right the wrongs and integrate them so as to unleash their full potential and contribute their best to development. That is what affirmative action is there to do, correct the mistake by encouraging them, by providing the needed platform for integration, for incorporation. I have said it before that there is affirmative action in many areas where the people feel the denial of their rights. Affirmative action in the education sector; where, for instance, the cut-off point for getting admission into federal schools/colleges is not the same as that of the student from the North. You know the story, due to the circumstances surrounding the area the Northerners had a low cut-off point and because the country was trying to make a conscious effort to encourage them to go to school, to integrate them they gave them a lower cut-off mark. So the issue of affirmative action is not a new thing, it is there to encourage, it has been used to right the wrong where it is found. The women advocating for more inclusion, of course, have all it takes to stand out if given the opportunity. You must make conscious efforts to make provisions for them. There was this bill Hon. Onyejeocha proposed at the House of Representatives that special seats be reserved for women. Even some male lawmakers co-sponsored it, but when it came to voting they voted it out. So when we talk of affirmative action, it is a conscious effort to right a wrong, to correct an anomaly and it should be supported. Is it that we don’t have qualified women? No. I have been in politics for so many years and I know that I am more qualified than most males that have been in competition with me. There are qualified women all over the country, but they will shout you down, frustrate you, create obstacles and make it impossible for you because you are a woman. There is still this psychological thing in our society arising from its patriarchal nature, which makes the women not getting the desired support. In terms of qualification, we have so many qualified women that can do the work, even better.
Most Nigerians seem to have expressed dissatisfaction with the APC leadership, especially at the federal level…?
(Cuts in) One of the things that the APC has done very well and you can’t take it away is in the provision of infrastructure all over the country. I give kudos to President Buhari’s leadership. If you look at the road from Aba to Enugu, you can close your eye and drive. So, is it in some other routes. There are lots of road constructions going on; the rail transport is not left behind as a lot is happening also in that sector. The tradermoni that was handed out to grassroots beneficiaries are all commendable efforts. A lot has also been done on the agriculture sector, just as other sectors were equally given attention. The only challenge is security. But for this security challenge, the government is doing great. It is not that the government is not doing enough on security; it is just that it has refused to abate as expected by now. The great things that the party has done over the years, it is this security challenge that sadly enough, seems to be overwhelming or perhaps diminishing it. But I am praying to God that it will abate before the president leaves office.
What is your greatest fear today about the country?
My greatest fear is the unemployment of a great number of the youths, especially those from the Northern part. The out-of-school syndrome is high. You know the shocking record of those that are out of school? All these are time bombs waiting to explode. Those youths have become willing tools for recruitment by the ISWAP, Boko Haram terrorists etc. When you have uneducated, unemployed youths, it is just a time bomb waiting to explode if you don’t arrest the situation.