Follow Us on Google
…Promises to liaise with NASS for relevant legislation
From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has made fresh appeal to the political parties to redress the obvious under-representation of women, youths and persons with disability by nominating more of them as candidates for elections.
Chairman of the commission, Mahmood Yakubu, made appeal at an event to mark the International Women’s Day at the commissioner’s headquarters in Abuja on Friday.
Yakubu further promised to deploy every instrumentality of legislation through interface with the two chambers of the National Assembly to introduce affirmative action as part of electoral reforms that will ensure greater representation.
“The commission is aware of the concern raised by Nigerians about the low level of gender representation in elective positions nationwide. The commission shares this concern and we have consistently been urging political parties to redress the obvious under-representation of women, youths and persons with disability by nominating more of them as candidates for elections.
“To accelerate progress in this regard, I will go as far as calling on the National Assembly to introduce affirmative action as part of the electoral reforms that will ensure greater representation of women, youths and persons with disability in elective offices nationwide.
“In the weeks ahead, the commission will engage with the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Electoral Matters on this and other areas of reform,” he revealed.
While chronicling the gender sensitivity of the commission to women, Yakubu said that; “it is not by coincidence that the two successive Secretaries to the commission are women. Furthermore, the present commission deliberately created a whole Department of Gender and Inclusivity in 2021 dedicated to the promotion of inclusive representation in the workplace and the electoral process.
“Today, out of 24 Departments and Directorates at the commission’s Headquarters, 11 (representing 46 per cent) are headed by women. We also have women serving as Administrative Secretaries in our State offices and Heads of various Departments at State level. There is also no State in Nigeria without women serving as Electoral Officers (EOs) in charge of our Local Government Offices.
“In addition to Departmental and other responsibilities, the commission has also built and equipped a Crèche for the convenience of staff of all categories who are nursing mothers. By coincidence, the Crèche will be commissioned shortly as part of the activities for this year’s International Women’s Day. Our intention is to extend such facility to our state offices as funds permit,” he promised.
