NGO tasks journalists to promote women’s political participation in Nigeria

By Uchenna Okeh, Abakaliki 

A non governmental organization, NGO, on the aegis of ARDA development communication Inc. has tasked journalists to promote women’s political participation in Nigeria.

The executive director of the organization, Mrs. Data Phido made this known during a one day training of journalists held at the Cirene hotel Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital.

The Nations News Nigeria reports that the training of the said journalists in Ebonyi state was done in partnership with UN women and Canada,, with the theme: “Representation matters, how media should portray women in political leadership and governance in Nigeria”.

Mrs. Phido who spoke through a consultant and facilitator of the training, Mrs. Miriam Minkiti lamented that women occupy minimal political positions in Nigeria, despite the fact that women constituted nearly half of the population at 4.9%, adding that “the representation of women in leadership and political spheres remains alarmingly low, hindering gender equality and inclusive governance”.

She stressed further that; “In politics, women hold a negligible percentage of parliamentary seats, inadequately reflecting their population share. This disparity is further exacerbated by the underrepresentation of women’s voices in mainstream and digital media platforms, where their perspectives are often marginalized, perpetuating gender stereotypes and biases.

The executive director, Minkiti noted further that the low representation of women in Nigerian politics is worrisome and therefore advocated for the implementation of ‘Advance: women’s political participation in Nigeria (AWPP) program, as a way to address this disparity urgently and systematically.

She inferred that AWPP program is designed to strengthen women’s political leadership as the moves towards the next general election in the country, “To be more strategic with the limited available resources, the geographic scope of this AWPP program is focused on the FCT and six other states; Borno, Cross-River, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Kaduna and Kwara.

Mrs. Minkiti, however called on journalists in Nigeria, especially in Ebonyi state to avoid stereotypes and biases, sensationalism and exploitation reportage, especially as regards women in leadership.

She urged journalists to always use respectful and non-discriminatory language, highlight women’s achievements and contributions in politics and leadership, provide balanced representation and should always focus on issues and not the appearance of women in leadership.