The Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party (ANRP) has expressed concern about the number of women nominated by President Muhammadu Buhari to be cabinet members of the present administration.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the president submitted a list of 43 ministerial nominees to the Senate for screening and confirmation in which seven are women.
The women are Sharon Ikeazor, Zainab Ahmed, Gbemisola Saraki, Ramatu Tijjani-Aliyu, Sadiya Farouk, Mariam Katagun and Pauline Tallen.
But Mr Sesugh Akume, the spokesman of ANRP, described the women inclusion in the list as “extremely low and disappointing’’.
He said on Wednesday in Abuja that the number represented 16.2 per cent which raised concern about active participation of women in politics.
According to him, women constitute half of the nation’s population and ensuring gender parity in government will foster good governance and national development.
“Why should we have such number of females out of 36 ministers which is 16.67 per cent of the nation’s population?
“What we should be working towards is optimum gender parity by normalising the 50-50 representation across genders.
“There is a direct connection with women inclusion in participation in governance, development and the advocacy for 50-50 inclusion is not a feminist fad or a play to the gallery.
“Studies and evidence have consistently shown that more women in decision making positions guarantee faster movement aimed at growth and sustainability of the economy and society,’’ he said.
Akume said that with the low number of women in the National Assembly, it was expected that the president would ensure 35 per cent women inclusion in his cabinet.
“The entire Senate with 109 members had only seven females in 2015; it is the same seven now in 2019, and consistently only one female from the entire northern Nigeria.
“Does it mean that females are not good enough or that no matter how hard they try and how good they are, it will not matter and they will always be excluded on the account of their gender.
“We were hoping that this negativity and anomalies will be corrected when the long awaited ministerial list is published, but unfortunately it was not so,’’ he observed.(NAN)