Womens Participation and

Performance in Nigeria
Politics: Challenges and
Solutions
By
Irabor, Favour Omoye
Presented on Dec. 13,2012
Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung

Introduction

The marginalization of Nigerian women in politics and

decision making is as old as the Nigerian society. It actually
predates the advent of colonialism in Southern and
Northern Nigeria.
Marginalization of women is reinforced by patriarchy,
poverty, illiteracy, religious and cultural norms.
A
less liberal democratic era with less organized
institutional and legal framework at the national, regional
and international levels for female politicians to latch on to
also exerbated the marginalization of women in politics.
The long years of military rule in Nigeria further worsened
the position of women in political participation.
It is widely believed that the marginalization of women in
political participation and decision making processes has
been responsible for the exclusion of the interests of
women in governance and development paradigms.
Yet, the development of any country requires the
participation of both men and women. Herein lies the
challenge.

Marginalization of Women - A
Universal Phenomenon
It

must however, be noted that

marginalization of women is not
peculiar
to
Nigeria.
Most
advanced democracies
today
once experienced marginalisation
of women in political participation
and decision making as can be
gleaned from the next slide.

Table One: Democratization of suffrage in Selected Countries

Country
Male Universal SuffrageFemale Universal Suffrage
Australia
1903
1908
Canada
1915/18
1920
France
1869/71
1946
Great Britain1877
1928
Italy
1925
1946
Sweden
1423
1921
Portugal
1911
1974
Japan
1918/19
1947
Nigeria
1922
1979
From the table above, it is clear that in all parts of the world,
women have been historically discriminated against in electoral
issues. [The good news is that marginalization can be addressed
through concerted efforts. Thus some countries now have female
heads of government such as Germany and Liberia.]

Source: Otive Igbuzor, Redefining Winning: Womens Emergence in Political

Leadership Positions

The History of the Nigerian

Situation The Colonial Era.
The

constitutional history of
Nigeria shows that this exclusion
dates back to the colonial times
when women were not allowed to
vote. The next slide says it all.

Table Two: Democratization Suffrage in NIgeria

YEAR

CONSTITUTION

SUFFRAGE

1914

Amalgamation

None

1922

Clifford

Adult Males
with annual
income of N100

1946

Richards

Adult Males with

income of N50

1951

Macpherson

1954

Lyttleton

Adult Males who paid their

taxes
Adult Males+ Females in
East & West

1960

Independence

Adult Males+
East & West

Females

in

1963

Republican

Adult Males+
East & West

Females

in

1979

Presidential

Adult Males & Females

Otive Igbuzor, Redefining Winning: Womens

Emergence in Political
Leadership Positions

annual

As

can be gleaned from the slide

while men started voting in Nigeria
in 1922, women in all parts of the
country started voting in 1979, a
difference of fifty seven years.
Thus in the first republic although
there
were
prominent
female
politicians in the northern part of
the country like Late Hajia Gambo
Sawaba they could not vote or be
voted for.

The Performance of Women

in the First Republic

The first republic (1960-1966) was dominated by

men.
The first republic produced just 1 female senator
from the Western region in the person of Late Chief
Wuraola Esan, the Iyalode of Ibadan.
In 1961, Late Chief (Mrs.) Margaret Ekpo contested
elections into Aba Urban North constituency under
the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC)
platform and won, thus, becoming a member of the
Eastern Nigeria House of Assembly until 1966.
Mrs. Janet N. Mokelu and Miss. Ekpo A. Young also
contested elections, won and became members of
the Eastern House of Assembly.
As earlier noted during this period women in
Northern Nigeria were still denied the opportunity to
vote and be voted for.

The Performance of Women

in the Second Republic

The second republic (1979-1983), just like the

first republic produced only 1 female senator
in the person of Late Franca Afegbuwa.
A few Nigerian women won elections into the
House of Representatives at the national
level. Some of these women were Mrs. J. C.
Eze of the Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP) who
represented Uzo Uwani constituency in
former Anambra State; Mrs. V.U. Nnaji, also of
the NPP who represented Isu Constituency in
Imo State and Mrs. Abiola Babatope of the
Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) who represented
Mushin Central II of Lagos State.

The Performance of Women

in the Third Republic

In the 1990 elections into local governments heralding the

third republic, very few women emerged as councilors and
only one woman, Chief (Mrs.) Titilayo Ajanaku, emerged as
Chairperson of Abeokuta Local Government Council in
Ogun State.
During the gubernatorial elections, no female Governor
emerged in any of the states. Only two female Deputy
Governors emerged, namely Alhaja Sinatu Ojikutu of Lagos
State and Mrs. Cecilia Ekpenyong of Cross River State.
In the Senatorial election held in 1992, Mrs. Kofo BucknorAkerele was the only woman who won a seat in the Senate.
This followed the pattern of the 1 st and 2nd republics.
Very few women won election into the House of
Representatives. One of them was Chief (Mrs.) Florence
Ita-Giwa who won the senatorial election in the Calabar
Constituency, Cross River State under the banner of the
National Republican Convention (NRC)

The Impact of CEDAW, the

AU Protocol and Beijing
The Convention on Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) was adopted by
Conference
the UN on December 18, 1979. Nigeria ratified it on June 13,

1985.
Art 7 of CEDAW requires Nigeria to take all appropriate
measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the
political and public life of the country
Art 9 (1)(a) of the AU Protocol states that States shall take
specific positive action to promote participative governance
and the equal participation of women in the political life of
their countries through enabling national legislation and
other measures to ensure that women participate without
discrimination in all elections.
This is in consonance with Art. 4 of CEDAW which deals with
Temporary Special Measures to accelerate equality between
men and women. It is also in consonance with Article 2 (11)
of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and
Governance which states the objective of the Charter is
amongst others to promote gender balance and equality in
the governance and development process.

The Critical Areas of Concern

of BPLA

The World Conference on Women (The

Beijing Conference) in 1995 articulated 12
critical areas of concern considered as main
obstacles to womens advancement in the
Beijing Platform of Action (BPFA).
The BPFA is not a set of laws, but a set of
principles and strategies for action. It
provides not only guidelines for actions on
the part of governments, NGOs, and
members of civil society, aiming towards
eliminating these barriers to achieving
gender equality worldwide, but its a
powerful statement of the recognition of
womens unequal status globally.

The Critical Area of Concern on Political

Participation and Decision Making

One critical area of concern specifically

requires states to ensure womens full
participation in power structures and
decision
making:
development,
education, and training to increase
womens capacity to participate in
decision making and ; leadership, and
aim at gender balance in government
bodies
and
the
composition
of
delegations to the UN.
This has defined standards of women
participation in politics and other national
engagements.

The Post Beijing Era.

Politically
focused
women
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have
been engaged in various capacity building
skills
for
female
aspirants
and
encouraging voters to vote for women
through
various
voter
education
programmes.
This is reinforced by the provisions of the
Nigerian Constitution and the Electoral
Act. The Electoral Act which forbids
independent candidacy
marginalizes
women
which
is
strengthened
by
feminisation of poverty.

The Nigerian Constitution

since 1979.

S.40 of the CFRN provides for right of

every Nigerian to participate in public
life.
S.42 provides for freedom from
discrimination.
Thus at the international, continental
and local level, there is no legal
provision
which
excludes
the
participation of women in politics in
Nigeria, yet Nigerian women remain
largely
under
represented
in
comparison to their male counterparts.

Gender Audit of General

Elections in Nigeria since
1999.
Despite
the
sensitization
programmes
of
NGOs
and
development
partners,
the
percentage of women occupying
elective and appointive positions
has not been very cheering.

Table Three: The Standing of Nigerian Women in

Political Participation and Performance from 1999
till Date.
Position
S/N

1
2
3
4
5
6

Total

Presidency
Senate
House of
Reps
Governorship
Deputy
Governorship
36 States
Houses of
Assembly

No
of
Avail
able
Seat
s
2
109
360

No of
Women
in 1999

No of
Women
in 2003

No of
Women
in 2007

No of
Women
in 2011

0
3
12

0
4
23

0
8
26

0
7
26

36
36

0
1

0
2

0
6

0
3

990

12

38

54

62

153
3

28

67

94

98

Source: Lance-Onyeiwu, Maureen (2011), Except from UN Womens Preliminary Analysis of the Results of the
General
Elections in Nigeria

Table Four: Current Representation of Men

and Women in Elective Positions (2011)
men

women

total

President

Vice
President

Senate

102

109

House of
Reps

334

26

360

Governor

36

36

Deputy
Governor

33

36

Houses of
Ass

928

62

990

1435

98

1533

93.60731

6.392694

Source: Lance-Onyeiwu M, (2011), Excerpts from UN Womens Preliminary

Analysis of the Results of the 2011 General Elections in Nigeria

Rethinking Womens
Participation and
The performance of women in
Performance
in Nigeria
Nigerias elections since 1999 call
Politics
for sober reflection and
rethinking.
Rethinking the participation and
performance of women in Nigeria
politics would enable us identify
the challenges and Solutions.
position.

Factors Undermining
Womens Political
Lack of Resources: Economic, Material and Human;
feminisation of poverty. (Challenges)
Political space appears to be
Participation
opened to those with strong political affiliations.

Discriminatory laws and gender blind policies.

Lack of political will. When the YarAdua administration
came into office, it promised to give 30 percent of political
appointment to women (less than the 35 percent in the
National Gender Policy). But an assessment conducted by
ActionAid after one year indicated that women
appointment was only 11 percent. President Goodluck
Jonathan increased it to 32%.
Lack of internal democracy in most of the political parties
Mrs Josephine Anenih, The Guardian Tuesday April 19,
2011 p. 12. The number of women who scaled through
the partys primaries was very low compared to the
number of women who aspired. Sarah Jubril had only vote
at the PDPs primaries.
Popularity of the candidate and not necessarily political
platform. Chris Ngige and Prof Dora Akunyili.

Challenges (Contd)

Patriarchy, god fatherism, male dominated party executives

Political violence, Lawlessness
Corruption: illegalities, rigging, oppression, manipulation,
Vote buying. Many women are not similarly situated
economically with their male competitors. They would not
be able to woe voters with money. Has implications for
female aspirants without privileged background. They will
be doubly disadvantaged at the partys primaries given
money politics that characterise our politics.
Sexual
harassment.
Women
from
less
privileged
background, without any political cleavage by virtue of
birth, marriage or other close relative political cleavage are
worst victims.
Labelling.
Money politics, ethical issues, and innumerable social,
cultural and religious factors.
Illiteracy
Timidity

Solution

Political violence negates womens chances at the

polls and in political participation.
The State should ensure full security for women and
girls during election periods and end impunity.
Political Parties should commit to
non-violent
campaigning and desist from hate speech.
Non-violent education should be mainstreamed in all
awareness raising and voter education campaigns by
all players.
The State should safeguard freedom of movement,
expression and assembly for all citizens especially
women.
Perpetrators of political violence must be brought to
justice. Nigerian women need more than economic
empowerment for success at the polls. Political
violence negates womens chances at the polls and
in political participation.

Solution (Contd)

Adequate compensation should be paid victims/their

families. A situation where suspect of political violence
would contest for party primaries, contest and win
election and bail arranged thereafter questions the
political will of government to address political
violence.
The report of the 22 person panel inaugurated by
President Goodluck Jonathan to look into the causes of
the post election violence in 2011 should be made
public and the recommendation implemented to the
letter to deter future occurrence and guarantee
security.
State prosecutors need to follow through on arrests
and try perpetrators. Justice should not be traded on
the altar of political expediency.
Government should be proactive.
Security should be beefed up in areas of possible flash
points.

Solution (Contd)

Training of political parties on womens

political participation and their impact on
democracy and good governance. The
training will expose the political parties to
basic principles of internal democracy,
gender and democratic governance.
Inclusion of gender sensitive provisions in
partys constitution and manifestoes.
This
will
serve
the
purpose
of
mainstreaming gender into its activities.
Assessment and examination of parties
primaries with a view to formulating and
implementing reforms that will support a
more level playing field.

Solution (Contd)

Amendment of Electoral Law to encourage

independent candidates .
Establishment of Womens Political Institute
where parties and all female aspirants and
candidates should be equipped with relevant
skills that underpin the elective positions
they seek.
It will further challenge them to improve
their level of education and enable them
cope with the challenges that they may be
thrust upon them as a result of political
exigency.
An imperative given the
competitiveness of the various elective
positions as opponents could intimidate
them with overwhelming credentials.

Solution (Contd)

Women should be active in fighting corruption

and bribery in elections. Women should be at
the forefront in calling for electoral reforms to
restrict the use of money in elections.
Adoption of the Recommendations of the
Justice Uwais Electoral Reform Commission on
representation of women and persons with
disabilities on proportional representation
basis with respect to selection of candidates
for elective office as circumstances may
permit by parties during party primaries. This
will be in line with temporary special measures
to accelerate equality between men and
women.

Solution (Contd)

Resource Mobilisation. Economic, material and human resources

are key to effective performance in politics. It should be borne in
mind that even if you do not engage in money politics, you need
money for logistics.
Raise funds. Tips include organise courses for communitywomen, youth, person with disabilities and get people to pay to
attend development partners could pay
Stage plays/ dances/ other events that people pay to attend
Get your resource persons to come and participate free they
donate their fees
Approach rich people in your family and seek their support
Invite influential friends to an auction- get friends to donate
Get endorsement from your networks church, mosque, youth
etc
Get technical assistance free of charge.
Request trainers, consultants to help you with proposal writing
Build your own vanguard because all the wealth in the world
does not measure up to human resource.

Creative Investment
Start

saving years before you

contemplate politics - every money
you earn set aside something - at
least 5%
Buy land, houses, shops not as
your retirement plan but as seed
money for politics
Raise animals start small and build
over the years
Keep multi means of income.

Creative Fund Raising

Organise

a dinner or lunch for

friends make sure the food etc
is covered by somebody as their
contribution so whatever money
you make is yours
Write a book or story about
yourself or work get friends to
launch make sure printing cost
is kept to a minimum

Corporate Sector
Approach

corporate organisations that

produce women products e.g.
Promasidor (beverage- cow bell) Procter
and gamble (Always) Cadbury (beverage
- bournvita) Indofood Indofood (indomie)
Endorsement for companies
prominent politicians choose safe
products not political ones
Link others networking charge a fee
Do consultancy when you have
information or knowledge about issues
Insist on a fee (market rate) or a
honorarium (a token sum) for work done.

Approach

airlines for free or

rebated tickets
Buy when there is a promotion or
sales on
Provide quality products that can
be made at affordable rates as
souvenir items for sale
Endowments if we have a
properly constituted womens fund,
well to do people will contribute

Development Partners.
They

will not give you cash but high value in kind

Ask them to support media appearances
Production of posters
Providing campaign logistics
International travels to learn more from
elsewhere
Pay for documenting your experiences
Lobby political parties to give more waivers to
women
When development partners give you funds
build in your salary and your overhead costs
Start your own community based organisation

A Womens Fund.
Encourage

established families to
set up a foundation for women
Contribute to the womens fund

Be Strategic
Before you go into politics, you need to identify a
problem that you wish to solve through political
participation. So you should be in politics because
you want to impact lives positively and make a
difference.
Plan ahead for everything
The more we prioritise money the more we
ourselves make the campaign difficult
Instead of doling out money - lets give out work
equipment to groups of women, youth and others
In fund raising: You write letters to some but you
must follow up physically with many
Create a resource raising team to help
Dont plan a big fundraiser if you do not already
have the costs covered.

Be Strategic

In politics conserve your money and spend

more towards the end of strategic points

Before primaries
For primaries
48 hours to election day
After elections

Have your think tank - a group of friends

who can help you plan and make
strategies
Posters are important but dont spend all
your money on posters at the beginning
Give back to your community ever before
you need them

Be Strategic

Skills and knowledge update on issues.

Identify womens issue and develop
appropriate message and strategies to solve
the problem
Map the political scene
Engage in core constituency building
Engage in networking and coalition building
Acquire personal communication techniques.
Ensure that appropriate words are used for
specific audiences.
Communicate messages effectively through
verbal and non-verbal actions,
negotiations/compromise/non-negotiables,
measuring success/building on experiences.

Lessons from 2011 General

Elections.

Whittling down of the influence of

political god fathers e.g. Saraki, Obsanjo
and people not voting along party lines,
but voting for personalities. Eg. Akinyuli
and Ngige. So you plan ahead.
Popularity of the candidates. Women
must work towards being relevant in their
constituencies.
Awareness of the electorate that they
have the final say on who should
represent them and not necessarily
through the imposition of a candidates by
godfathers.

Lessons from 2011.

Emergence in political position requires

perseverance and commitment. Dont
brood over failure. Try again. Mulikat and
Nkoyo Toyo.
The advocacy of women for equal
political representation will be enhanced
with quality representation from women.
Voting pattern may defy previous trends
so candidates must work hard at their
constituencies, be knowledgeable and be
people oriented.

Conclusiuon

Women's ability to courageously

harness the human capital resource
in the undisputed large numbers of
women and specifically, gender
activisits and male gender champions
provides them with space and
resident technical support to organize
and sustain momentum for accession
to political leadership.
Work towards barriers that hinder
womens political participation such
as
patriarchy,
violence,
money,
cultural barriers, and religious barrier.

Conclusion (Contd)

It has been shown that wherever women

are empowered, there is acceleration of
development. Countries that are on top of
the human development index (the
Scandinavian countries) are those that give
premium to women issues. There is
therefore the need for gender sensitive
laws, budget and empowerment of women
through training, economic empowerment,
political support and affirmative action.
Finally, there is the need to end violence,
prosecute perpetrators, review the federal
character principle to include gender equity.
Women should participate in politics to
make a difference.

Thank

you.
Merry Christmas and Happy New
Year.