The Executive Director of Women in Management and Business and Public Service, a non-profit organisation, Omowunmi Akingbohungbe, has said that women are represented in the national parliament by about six per cent in Nigeria.
She disclosed it at the ongoing WIMBIZ annual conference themed, “Dream, Dare, Do,” in Lagos, stating that more women should occupy government positions in Nigeria.
She said, “In Nigeria, the representation of women in the national parliament is about six per cent. Then I researched other African countries. Senegal, Rwanda, and South Africa have over 45 per cent women representation.
“Take South Africa for instance, their electoral committee put a policy in place that for the political parties, they must have 50 per cent equal representation of women candidates that they are going to present. So the issue of having a shortage of women at the electoral level was resolved, and that’s why we see over 45 per cent representation across these other African countries that we mentioned.
“If we have the same in Nigeria, if INEC takes a position that there’s a policy in place where even if we start with 35 per cent representation for women candidates to be presented at the party levels and then let them prove themselves by people voting for them, it will give them an opportunity.”
Akingbohungbe asserted that one of the challenges women face in the country, especially in attaining leadership positions, was also stereotyping themselves, self-doubt, and not believing in themselves.
She added, “So the theme for this annual conference is tagged, Dream, Dare, Do. We have researched and found out that so many people, the successful people that you see today, a lot of these successes happened in their mind first before they became reality. So the conference today is charged with an agenda that is supposed to get women, and even men, inspired to explore their dreams, inspired with the strategies that they can use to implement these dreams, and of course, excel in what they desire to do.
She said, “One of our major strengths at WIMBIZ is advocacy, and we are constantly advocating for a minimum of 35 per cent representation of women in leadership roles. Now, this is not about gender against the other.
“It’s about knowing the fact that when both parties come together, they have strengths that they bring to the leadership of such organizations. Now, we ensure that we have our WIMBoard programme, which the network of women that you see here today is what we leverage.”
Speaking on technology, the Chairman of the Board of Punch Nigeria Limited, Angela Emuwa, said adaptability and flexibility were essential in following one’s dreams.
She said, “You have to be able to adopt technology because it makes your system more efficient and makes everything better. When you are launching a new business, you need to use technology. There is so much technology can do, especially with artificial intelligence. Hence it is very important to adopt technology to move businesses forward.”
