By Princess Simon (Bureau Chief North Central, in Minna)
One day Strategic Blueprint Development Workshop has ended in Minna, Niger state capital with participants who are mostly women resolving that though the state Governor has encouraged women participation in politics existing socio-economic and cultural hindrances needed to be checked for women to actively achieve full potentials in politics.
Though the state Governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago has given female politicians opportunity to serve as Vice Chairperson across the 25 Local Government Areas (LGAs), some culture/tradition, religion and socio-economic considerations still put most women politicians in the state at disadvantaged position to attain desired political potentials.
Addressing participants at Guddel Hotel, Minna on Wednesday, the founder of Dorothy Njemanze Foundation (DNF), Dorothy Njemanze said the workshop is continuation of a journey the DNF and Henrich Boll Stiftung Foundation (HBSF) have walked together for four years trying to find answers to why women's voices are still not heard in Nigeria's polity.
Meaningful change, according to Dorothy begins by listening to women, not after policies are written, but before they are even imagined, this she said is one of the core reasons why the DNF and HBSF partnership.
She said, "Everything we do begins with what women actually live through, and it ends with holding institutions accountable for it, the method that brought about the workshop".
Also speaking, Abdulrasaq Hafsat, the DNF Program Officer said the objectives of the workshop is to share findings from the Needs Assessment and the Women's Charter of Demands in order to have a common understanding the issues women in Niger state encounters politically.
The workshop is also tp produce a draft Strategic Policy Blueprint to guide advocacy and support government in making policies and programmes that better respond to the needs of women in Niger state.
Some of the women in their contributions expressed fears that despite encouragement from the Governor on women inclusivity, socio-economic, religious and cultural hindrances cause setbacks to women who wanted to fully participate in politics.
Apart from not having the wherewithal to favourably compete alongside male counterparts, women who actively participate in politics are often castigated and called derogatory names aside from being tagged as 'prostitutes and lay-abouts'.
They however unanimously agreed that with adequate aggressive enlightenment and being economically empowered, participation of women in politics in the next couple of years will increase.
There were good messages from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) State Coordinator represented by Yunusa Surajudeen Adedeji, CAPP represented by Umar Isa Junior, and PWAN represented by Gimba Abubarkar Sadiq. NNL.
