JDPMC Advocates Inclusion Of Female Technocrats In Politics

By Victor Olayemi, Osogbo

The Justice Development and Peace makers centre (JDPMC), a faith based non governmental organization, has called for an increase in the inclusion of women in nation-building, leadership, and elective positions.

JDPMC made the call in Osogbo, during a One-day stakeholders women meeting, themed: The Role of Women Groups in a State without Women Representatives in Parliament: Osun State In Perspective”,
organised by the organization.

In his address of welcome, JDPMC General Coordinator, Rev Peter Akinkunmi said the meeting is one of a series they have been holding with various women organizations to ensure that the gender mainstreaming strategy they have in place is accomplished.

Akinkunmi who emphasized the importance of the meeting said there is need for inclusiveness of women in Governance.

Akinkunmi said: “This meeting becomes imperative to have robust deliberation centered on women inclusion in political activities and critical issues on progress and development of the nation.

“The modern world has recommend 35% women inclusion for a proper development and evolution of a society.”

While delivering her lecture, a social scientist and immediate past Country Director of ACTIONAID, Nigeria, Mrs Ene Obi, called on the government to recognise the role of professional women in nation-building by giving them more opportunities in politics to transform the nation’s leadership.

Obi appealed to party stakeholders to support women who were courageous enough to vie for elective offices and allow technocrats to birth good governance in the nation.

She however, charged women on the need to strategize for active participation in politics ahead of future elections.

She said, “If more women are given the opportunities and tickets, they will bring hope back to the masses and the society will benefit more.

Obi said, “We all know that we do not have a good number of women in top leadership positions in the ministries, we all know that it cuts across even the political arena where every period we have elections, the number of women that become leaders or representatives of other women dwindles.”

“There are a lot women can offer. There is no development without the support and contribution of women. Women play vital roles in the development of any society.

“If you honour woman, you honour humanity. So, woman are the mothers, woman are the people that nurture children.

“In the State House of Assembly, where we don’t have women, it means we are going to have committees of women without women. So who is going to tell you what is affecting women, they don’t have.

“I want to urge my people not to fold our hands.

She however urged the women to always play motherly roles in their homes and their immediate environment.

Echoing a similar views, Chairman, Federation of Muslim Women’s Associations in Nigeria (FOMWAN), Osun State Chapter, Alhaja Sadiat Oladapo, stressed the need to bridge the gender gap in the nation’s polity.

She added that female technocrats had the ability to harmonise all segments of society and sectors to ensure all-around development and national growth.

“You can see that in this political dispensation, there is no woman at the Osun State House of Assembly and even at the national Assembly.

“You know when we were not there, you can’t replace a woman with a man and using the population of Osun State we are more than 50% percent, and you can see we are supposed to have committee, I don’t know how we are going to do it now, we are supposed to have women committees In charge of women.

“Are we going to put the men there, so you can see there is need for us to restrategize. I think that is one of the reasons we are coming together, before 2027, 2028 is not far, you know before a tickle of an eye, there is need for us to come together again and start to strategize so that we can have more women in politics especially in elective position”.

Earlier while enumerating some of their activities in the area of women capacity building, Program Manager, Democracy and Good Governance Department JDPMC, Mr Festus Ojewumi, said that organisation has done a lot in the area of woman capacity building.

Ojewumi said: We have built the women capacity across the local government in community development, in Governance and many other areas, where we brainstormed on how woman can be involved

“In 2022 we started campaign against violence against women in politics. Base on various reports our organization took it upon itself and started preaching against violence against women in politics

“Effort on the domestication of VAPP Act in Osun State. We organized various round table discussion on radio.”

However, there is no doubt that women contributed a larger percent in community and societal development.

Statistic shows the total population of Nigeria from 2011 to 2021 by gender.

In 2021, Nigeria’s female population amounted to approximately 105.57 million, while the male population amounted to approximately 107.83 million inhabitants.