News:
October 11, 2022
As Nigeria heads to the polls February next year for its general elections, one out of the two females representing the country despite the fact that Nigeria has thirty-five (35) representations to the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Lynda Chuba Ikeazu says the narrative would change in the next Parliament.
According to her they would make a very strong case for the leadership of Nigeria to make way for at least ten (female) lawmakers in the sixth Community Parliament as they look forward to more women to be part of the Parliament.
She made the disclosure at the just ended second Extraordinary Session in Lome – Togo, during which the ECOWAS Parliament made a budgetary allocation for the 2023 fiscal policy, for Female Parliamentary Association (ECOFEPA) on the theme, “unleashing the potentials of women and youth in politics and Entrepreneurship”.
Madam Lynda Ikeazu noted that the budgetary allocation to ECOFEPA would assist them in their activities, as they plan to bring women across the West African sub-region next month, to converge at one location and train them.
“Because this is all about training and mentorship for them to understand what it takes to be in politics, or whatever field they so choose to, ECOFEPA, we would move away from symposiums”, she added.
She singled out Senegal as an example, having succeeded in securing spots for a lot of women in their National Assembly.
Though she recognised the task ahead of them is a difficult one, she was hopeful they can come out with a workable strategy to push through with their objectives. “Let us face it, it is not going to be easy, but we going to ensure we file all national governments; we device ways to push forward other women because no one is going to pretend that the terrain is not difficult.
Again in Africa, be it culture or whatever that has put women in the disadvantage, they have to work on that; and every country is different, “so we have to look inward and determine what best way to use to address this; whether we are going to use political parties, National Assemblies to make legislations that would make it easier for women to participate in the political field”.
She further emphasized, just anything they can do to make sure they have a level playing field with their male counterpart. Again, “let us face it, we are not going to have a complete level playing field but something very close to a level playing ground that is what we are going to aim to achieve”, she emphasized.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com