Joy Omagha Idam, an opinion piece
If Nigerian women truly wish to remain relevant in 2015 and generally in the polity then there are a few key steps and hard decisions they should take to achieve this. It is true that President Goodluck Jonathan, has empowered women so much and surpassed what any other Living or dead President that were exclusively for men.
Notable among them are Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Dieziani Allison Madueke and Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Mariam Aloma Mukhtar, to mention a few and they have all given good account of themselves.
Nigerians and the women especially need to be more commiTted to the Millenium Development Goals to increase women’s participation in politics by at least 30percent. President Jonathan recently also urged the political parties to include in its manifestos, policies to mandate the youth and women participation in key electoral positions.
Thus Nigerians must open all space by removing every barrier capable of preventing women from achieving the goals, by formulating gender friendly laws and affirmative actions in Constitution and party structures.
I expected Nigerian women to run with this mandate but I am yet to feel their pulse thus it has become pertinent to sound this wake up call to women to come together and plan ahead of 2015 in order to remain relevant. I am an advocate for empowering women but the women themselves must first be qualified to be considered for available offices alloted to them.
This brings me to the issue of an urgent need to set up a Think Tank Committee whose job will be to traverse the entire country and select 15 women per state including the FCT. The women must have the prerequisite education, exposure easy to market candidates and above all have funds to match the men they will be running against.
After the shopping stage the next thing will be to reassess them to note where their strengths and weaknesses rest in order to say who will run for Governor, Deputy Governor, Senate, House of Representatives, House of Assembly, Local Government Council, Ministers and Ambassadors.
The Committee will proceed to lobby party hierarchy, to incorporate the women screened into the scheme of affairs and this must be done as soon as possible. When the women do this the men will take them more serious and know that they mean business.
It is important to note that there will be trade off not all the names will scale through so there must be a way of carrying those dropped along by way of appointment. And the group lobbying must emphasize more on the strength of the women.
Next stage the lobby group must insist via an undocumented code for the following ; one out of the 3 Senators from each state should be a female and in the case of FCT it should rotate between women and men every four years.
For House of Reps four out of total number in each state should be females and same for the State House of Assembly. In the case of FCT on the House of Reps since there are two seats one should be for the females and the other for the males.
The reason for this is because my investigations revealed that women have been more committed during elections using Ekiti elections as a recent case study. When they come out they mean business they are never distracted until they cast their votes.
More so women constitute 50percent of voters while youth represent 30 and senior citizens and elite comprise 10percent each. If the women combine forces with the youth they can easily unseat or install any candidate they believe in. They did this in 2011 for President Jonathan and are warming up to repeat it in 2015.
My advise to all the parties in the various states will be to ensure that all gubernatorial candidates make women their running mates.
I wish to commend some of the women who have taken the bold step ahead of 2015 elections from the Senate to run for Governor, they are Senator Helen Esuene, (PDP), Akwa Ibom, if she emerges she will become the first woman in south south Nigeria.
Senator Nkechi Nwogu, PDP, Abia and she will be slugging it out with General Azubuike Ihejirika, Former Chief of Army Staff, Senator Abaribe to mention a few.
In Imo state, Senator Chris Anyanwo, APGA, will be doing battle royale against former Governor Ohakim, Deputy Speaker House of Reps Rt Hon Emeka Ihedioha and Senator Hope Uzodinma all of the PDP who wish to reclaim the state. Where that leaves the incumbent Owelle Rochas is still unclear. Only time will tell.
I therefore call on NAWOJ, NCWS, Women Leader of their parties and women generally to rise up to the occasion and give them the required morale boost to emerge though an uphill task.
Fund raising will be another serious strategy because this is where unfortunately the men beat us in politics. The Committee must raise funds for marketing the women.
They must also woo the media seek out those whose editorial policy is sympathetic to women course and work with them as partners to publicize the high points of the female candidates. Make them house hold names before the elections.
They Must start Campaigns early visit traditional rulers, chieftains, king makers and get their endorsements. It is not enough to say I’m a female visit your constituency at every opportunity. Identify with the people. Don’t wait till last minute you will fail.
Finally there is every need to let the men know you wish to lead and that you need them else they will feel threatened. Show them that whether in or out of government you will remain humble. Above all dress as you wish to be addressed. Because while in a public office you become a ROLE MODEL do not let the young ones down.
For those serving if you have stepped on any toes the time to make amends is now.
Joy Omagha Idam is an Abuja based Journalist. 08033158989
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