By Abdullahi Alhassan, Kaduna
The President of Women Mentoring and Leadership Initiative (WAMFOI), Mrs Florence Aya, have called on Independent National Electoral Commission,(INEC )to make the Process more Credible for the future of our young Democracy to Strive.
She also congratulates all female members of the various political parties who were candidates during the last elections. also appreciated Women Political Participation and Political Working Groups (WPP-PWG)
In a Press statement signed and made available to Journalists in Kaduna, after a one day Conference by Civil Society organization held in Kaduna.
“We encourage women to stand strong and participate in future elections so women can contribute their own quota to National development. The group also calls on INEC to make the process more credible for the future of our young democracy.
The Statement added that “The WPP-PWG appreciates and congratulates all female members of the various political parties who were candidates during the last elections.
“The WPP-PWG commends the women candidates and we call them “Our Heroes” for having the courage to participate in politics. Of all the candidates who contested during the 2023 elections, two (2) candidates won seats in the state assembly.
The conference aggregated lessons learned in the quest for women’s political empowerment in Nigeria. Following the successful collaboration for the post-mortem meeting as well as recommendations from the workshop, which included the need for a more coordinated approach among partners working on WPP, organizers of the workshop agreed to establish a platform for coordination, information-sharing and joint planning in efforts to address the marginalization of women in politics.
The Women Political Participation group (WPP) – Partners Working Group was established in October, 2022 in Kaduna state. In an effort to be more inclusive, this evolved into the Development Partners represented by the Legal Awareness for Nigerian Women, Women Mentoring and Leadership Initiative, Kaduna Women Consultative Network(interparty),Creative Women, Women Mediators Network, Women in Politics and Zamani Foundation (serving as the secretariat).
The overall aim of the group is to provide a forum to maintain focus and commitment to gender equality issues among partners including through sharing information, identifying collaborative activities and coordinating actions and funding where possible.
“Our Specific Objectives include:
To provide a forum for partners to discuss issues and exchange information related to gender equality, women political participation and development across sectors.
The forum congratulates Hon. Munirat Tanimu of Lere LG and Rt.Honourable Comfort Amwe of Sanga L.G (a returning member) even though there will be rerun election in some polling units.
“It was observed that the just concluded elections was peaceful and violence free. The group commended the large turn out of women voters. There was low record of violence against women compared to previous elections.
“Women in Nigeria constitute approximately 49% of the country’s population; however, they play a very limited role in decision making.
The statement further explained that “Several civil society organizations and international partners including UN Women committed huge amounts of technical commitments.
Recognizing the need for better coordination and collaboration to empower women politically, the UN Women Nigeria in collaboration with other CSOs and international development partners organized a post-mortem conference that convened all actors working on women’s political empowerment in Nigeria.
We want To enhance coordination of partner support to the state gender machinery and, where agreed to collaborate on specific advocacy opportunities.
“To also provide a platform for consultations with the MHSSD, MDAs, civil society organizations and other relevant institutions to share information and discus women political participation, gender equality issues and those requiring joint or heightened action.
The statement further maintained that we want to develop joint positions and shared messaging on priority issues related to gender equality.
To identify funding opportunities and partnerships and joint programming amongst the membership.
