Female Lawmaker Tasks Buhari On Appointing Women Into Cabinet

From Tom Garba, Yola
President Muhammadu Buhari has been called upon to reflect women affirmative action in its next rounds of appointment.
A female lawmaker in the Adamawa House of Assembly, Hon. Justina Obadiah Nkom, made the call against the backdrop of plans by the presidency to address and balance the lop-sidedness in recent appointment made by Buhari and reports that the State Security Service may have started the screening of some political appointees.
Mrs Nkom who spoke in Yola while stressing the need for the next round of appointment being planned by President Buhari, to bring more women on board his administration, noted that doing so would stimulate more women participation in politics.
The member, who is the minority leader in Adamawa House of Assembly and represents Lamurde Constituency, under the banner of the Social Democratic Party, (SDP), also lamented women participation in politics which she said had regressed because of their poor financial capacities, adding that the situation in the North East was worst because of the insurgency.
She regretted that the appointment of fewer women into political offices under the current dispensation was likely to reverse the gains of the 35% women affirmative action experienced under the last administration, which she said increased women participation in the political space.
She maintained that even though she would not like to blame President Buhari yet since the administration has promised to do something to redress the imbalance observed in its recent appointment, she stressed that through gender affirmative action, the administration can ensure more women’s active involvement.
She regretted that women participation in the last elections, especially in the North East, ravaged by insurgency had regressed significantly when compared to their involvement in the 2011 elections.
“Women did not participate much in the last election due to the crisis. You wouldn’t blame the government much because maybe they didn’t get the kind of women they wanted to balance the 35% affirmative action undertaken by the last administration But notwithstanding giving more women posts in the next round of appointment will allow women to be actively involved,” she said.
She stated that the greatest impediment to women participation in politics was finance. According to her, “because of the pecuniary nature of our politics, even if they say to you, go we will vote for you. If you don’t have that financial support, it will bring you down. Definitely, you will not succeed.” she said.