Mrs Nkoyo Toyo, former Nigeria’s Ambassador to Ethiopia and Djibouti, has expressed concern over implementation of the 35 per cent Affirmative Action (AA) policy in the country.
She made her position known on Saturday in Calabar during a one-day stakeholders meeting organised by Gender and Development Action (GADA), an NGO, on boosting female representation in the nation’s politics.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that AA was formulated in 2006 by the National Gender Policy (NGP), demanding that 35 per cent of women be involved in governance processes.
Affirmative action refers to a policy aimed at increasing workplace and educational opportunities for people who are underrepresented in various areas of society.
The policy focuses on demographics with historically low representation in leadership and professional roles.
The former ambassador, therefore, said there has been a decline in the number of women in national positions in the last 25 years.
Toyo, who represented Calabar-Odukpani Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives between 2011 and 2015, said this growing concern led to the UNwomen raising funds with support from the Canadian Government and Global Fund to see how they could raise women’s voices.
According to her, the stakeholders meeting is to brainstorm on what women
can do differently to achieve better results in the forthcoming Cross River local government elections and the 2027 general elections.
She added that “from this meeting, we also heard that a lot of the problems are with the women because one of the questions put forward was how many women were even proactively thinking about getting into politics.
“As women, folding our hands and doing nothing is not an option; that is why we are gathered here to have this conversation toward the council and 2027 general polls.
The Cross River Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs Edema Irom, said “women need to be in the boardrooms too because that is the only way to speak to inclusion practically.
“In the last local government elections in Cross River, 12 women became vice chairs, but this time, they wanted 12 women local government chairs, while the men be their vice.”
She added that with proper advocacy, lobbying, consultations and buy in, it is possible, depending on what women are doing today.
On her part, Mrs Mercy Akpama, Member Representing Yakurr two in the Cross River House of Assembly, urged women to come out for leadership positions in their Churches, village meetings, neighbourhood, association and political parties.
Akpama, who is the only elected woman in the Cross River House of Assembly, said women would approach the wife of the governor and work hard for more leadership positions in the state.
Meanwhile, Cross River has no female representation in the Senate and the House of Representatives, with only one female member in the State House of Assembly and seven out of 31 commissioners in the state.(NAN
