The National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) and the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) on Tuesday in Abuja, bemoaned poor representation of women, youth and persons with disabilities (PWDs) in governance in Nigeria.
They in changing the trend, brainstormed with representatives of the 18 registered political parties for nipping the problem in the bud right from the level of membership and executives configuration.
Statistically, they posited that a situation where only 55 women got elected into the various State Houses of Assembly, three into the Senate and 15 into House of Representatives from the recently conducted general elections , were unacceptable
In his remarks at the one – day dialogue on Inclusive Practices of Political Parties in Nigeria, the Director for Democracy and Development in NILDS, Dr Adewale Aderemi said the trend must be changed ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Issue of inclusivity, he explained, must be factored in future elections to protect the vulnerable.
He said: “Political parties are the fulcrum of any democracy. We’ve spent so much in training political parties and very little has come back. We’re trying to come up with a new approach on how to address the issue of making political parties more vibrant. This dialogue is about inclusivity. There are cries that women, youths and disabled are not well represented within the political space.”
Chairman of Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Sani Yabagi, urged leaders of political parties to bring in the vulnerable groups.
“Nigeria is an important country. We saw that during the just-concluded general elections. Political parties have to deliberately see how they can bring in women, youths and disabled people into the scheme of things,” he said.
Country Director of WFD, Adebowale Olorunmola in his remarks, said Nigeria has over 30 million disabled people, but wondered why they’re not well represented.
