The United Nation’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO has called for increased women representation in elective and appointive leadership positions in Nigeria.
Hassana Alidou, UNESCO Regional Office’s Director, in a statement issued on his behalf on Monday by Oluseyi Soremekun, the United Nation’s National Information Officer, said lack of women leadership does not only depict inequality, but also tends to perpetuate unequal gender relations through a lack of role models for young women.
He noted that about 516 women sought political office in elective positions at various levels in Nigeria in 2007 while more than 900 women contested for elections into various offices in 2011. The UNESCO director said this is equivalent to an increase of about 78 per cent.
He however, regretted that even with such increases witnessed, the percentage of women currently in political offices in Nigeria was estimated to be eight per cent.
He described this as an indicator of the high levels of exclusion dealt to women in the country’s political sphere and called for an improvement.
As contained in the statement, Alidou spoke at UNESCO training workshop on “Gender and Transformative Leadership in Nigeria,” a workshop held in continuation of the United Nation’s support to Nigeria’s electoral process.
The training was organised to encourage women who intended to go into appointive and elective leadership positions across the country.
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