From Okwe Obi, Abuja
A women’s rights movement, 100 Women Lobby Group, has appealed to President Bola Tinubu, not to renege on his promise to empower the women.
The organisation specifically demanded 35 per cent women representation in appointive positions across all strata of government to ensure gender equity.
The group’s National Coordinator, Felicia Onibon, made the appeal at a media briefing on the close up of the Electoral Integrity and Accountability in Nigeria project supported by the MacArthur Foundation in Abuja.
Some members of the women lobby group included: Women’s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA), Women in Politics Forum (WIPF), The Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF), and ElectHER among others.
Onibon urged the president to take the five gender bills, which were rejected by the 9th National Assembly as an executive bill to the 10th Assembly, adding that Nigeria needed to take her pride of place in the committee of nations.
“One of our major prayers is for the president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to take the five gender bills as an executive bill to the 10th Assembly, as Nigeria needs to take her pride of place in the committee of nations as we currently lag behind in the development paradigm which is usually determined by the gender status of a Nation.
“We also congratulate the newly elected legislators both at National and state levels, and we take this opportunity to ask for their corporation especially as we have fewer women in parliament and there need for more voices of women to be reflected at legislative level amongst women and men for an equitable development in Nigeria.”