By Victoria Ojeme
The Deputy Director, International Republican Institute (IRI) Nigeria, Mr Sunday Alao has advocated for more women inclusiveness in political processes in the country.
Alao made the call in Abuja, at an APC male allies transformative training, organised by the IRI with sponsorship from the Women Democracy Network.
Alao said the IRI in the past had worked with other key actors in conflict resolutions by building consensus among political leaders and parties on the importance of lowering election-related tensions and accepting voting results.
He said prior to the 2020 gubernatorial elections in Edo and Ondo states, IRI created a toolkit designed to mitigate electoral violence adding that it also facilitated the signing of peace accords for governorship candidates and state-level political party chairmen.
He said IRI had worked in other election cycles by helping to coordinate peace accords for candidates at all levels of government, from the presidential to the State House of Assembly.
According to him, IRI also works with the National Peace Committee and the Inter-Party Advisory Council to promote broad support of peace initiatives.
Alao said IRI has worked with political parties in Adamawa, Bauchi, Sokoto, and Ebonyi to help replicate initiatives begun on the national level, aimed at increasing representation for marginalized groups including women in party leadership and government.
He said the organisation has promoted the importance of the inclusion of marginalized groups and helped create National Woman, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities Leader positions in the two largest political parties in Nigeria.
He said IRI supports leaders as they review their parties’ internal governing documents, identify gaps and barriers to traditionally marginalised peoples’ representation and participation, as well as make recommendations for improvements.
“Through this process, IRI is supporting marginalized groups as they work to reduce barriers to participation in politics.
“The organisation has followed with keen interest, the political process in Nigeria and was concerned about the low participation of the female gender in political processes.”
According to Alao, a similar programme with emphasis on gender equality and equity was recently organised by the IRI for women in politics to encourage their active participation.
He said the training was targeted at selected members of key political parties on the need to encourage and promote women equality and affirmation in politics.
He said another training will be organised for PDP party members from across the country with the aim to sensitise them and make them advocates for active women participation in politics.
Mr Alphonsus Eba, the APC Chairman in Cross River commended the organisers of the event for canvassing for more women participation in politics.
Eba, a participant at the training said the event would further spur him and other participants to do more for the female gender through implementation of decisions and lessons learnt from the gathering.
He said his nomination to participate in the training was owed to his efforts and that of Gov. Ben Ayade of Cross River to ensure active women participation in the political process in the state.
He said women in Cross River with the insistence of the governor currently enjoy 40 per cent stake in the executive committee of the APC in the 196 council wards in the state.
“I am hopeful that participants drawn from various states will share experience and take back something from the event that will further strengthen efforts at achieving gender equity and equality in politics.
