It’s Not Easy To Be A Woman In Nigerian Politics – IFES
The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) published a report early this year on how it is not easy to be a woman in Nigerian politics.
It goes on: at the highest levels of Nigerian governance, men vastly outnumber women. In the Senate and House of Representatives, women hold only three percent and four percent of seats, respectively. This gender disproportionality is evident in state and municipal governments as well.
The lack of women in leadership positions in local government and civil society reflects how difficult it is for females to carve out leadership positions or rise through the ranks.
Being a female in leadership in Nigeria means navigating a complex and often uneven playing field, shaped by societal expectations, systemic barriers, and deep-rooted gender norms. It requires resilience, determination, and strength to create meaningful change in the face of historical inequities.
Striving for gender equality is not only advantageous to the women who might benefit from these efforts, but it is beneficial for Nigerian society in general. Women’s empowerment in governance can increase the quality of democracy by creating a society that is more representative of its citizenry and thus more stable. A more inclusive and diverse set of leaders across all levels of society can lessen internal conflicts and improve peacebuilding outcomes. To address the gender inequalities in Nigeria, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) created and hosted the Young Women’s Leadership Training Program (YWLTP).
IFES’s YWLTP is an empowering initiative designed to help young women in Nigeria chart a pathway through the maze of long-standing gender biases in order to achieve their dreams. Consisting of women ages 18 to 30 and tailored specifically for women with disabilities, university students, and female election candidates who have run for office without success, this program builds participants’ confidence, teaches leadership skills, and nurtures a female-centered support system. The program creates a network of persevering women ready to make an impact in elections, activism, or governance.
To break through gender barriers, young women need tools. The YWLTP focuses on equipping participants with the resources and know-how they need to step boldly into leadership positions. While completing the IFES training, many beneficiaries created one-year-long work plans, setting personal goals for their leadership, political, and career goals, which were submitted to IFES for accountability and ongoing support, ensuring their growth is both strategic and sustained.
One year later, IFES checked back in with three participants, Ifunanya, Praise, and Toyin, to see what they’ve accomplished:
Ifunanya Jessica Okoye, 22, Oraifite, Ekwusigo, Anambra state, Nigeria
Ifunanya Jessica Okoye, 22, Oraifite, Ekwusigo, Anambra state, Nigeria
Ifunanya Okoye, has become a registered member of a political party in Anambra State, where she is actively supporting a female councillorship candidate by crafting campaign messages. She also applied her training to run for an elective position in the Youth Assembly of Nigeria (YAN), successfully securing the role of Chief Whip for Ekwusigo LGA.
How did the IFES training prepare you for your role as Chief Whip for Ekwusigo LGA in the Youth Assembly of Nigeria?
Ifunanya: The IFES training, particularly focusing on self-confidence and campaign strategies, empowered me to overcome challenges and successfully campaign for my position. It provided me with the tools and mindset needed to navigate obstacles and emerge as a strong leader.
From your own experience, how does the quality of leadership differ when led by women?
Ifunanya: Women leaders excel in listening, empathizing, and making decisions that benefit the collective rather than individual interests. Their leadership style is characterized by inclusivity, compassion, and genuine concern for the welfare of others.
Women’s involvement in leadership is crucial as women possess unique insights and perspectives that contribute to inclusive decision-making processes. Women leaders prioritize the well-being of all individuals, ensuring a balanced and equitable approach.
What surprising lesson have you learned in your current position?
Ifunanya: I have discovered that opposition, particularly from within my own gender, can be a significant challenge. This realization has reinforced the importance of self-reliance and resilience in leadership roles.
Ifunanya
What positive changes have you observed due to your hard work?
Ifunanya: My level of self-confidence has increased and every day, I continually strive for personal growth and excellence in leadership; daring and striving to do more and become a better leader/version of myself.
What future transformations do you hope to see come out of your work?
Ifunanya: Through my work with IFES, I have witnessed the support and interest of individuals invested in my growth. This has spurred me to do more and want to be more. I am determined to make a significant impact in the realm of whatever leadership position I am privileged to occupy, and I aspire to be recognized among the world’s most influential female leaders, such as Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
What does democracy mean to you?
Ifunanya: Democracy, to me, embodies the power of the people to shape their own destiny. It represents inclusiveness, equality, and the freedom to express opinions, make choices, and hold leaders accountable. True democracy thrives when every voice is heard, and every right is protected.
My work in Nigeria is driven by a deep passion and commitment to justice, equality, and education. Through initiatives like Justice Link and programs for gender inclusion, I strive to amplify the voices to the marginalized, contribute towards preventing innocent citizens from falling victim to systemic injustices, and empower young girls to pursue education. I firmly believe that change begins with action, and I’m committed to creating a society where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.
Praise Chidiebube Nwankwo, 24, Ebonyi state, Nigeria.
Praise is leading leadership training sessions for secondary school girls in Ebonyi State, aiming to inspire them to embrace leadership roles. She initiated a secondary school outreach program, visiting two schools to engage with students and instill a passion for leadership, preparing them for future roles in higher education and beyond.
What valuable lessons did you learn from the IFES training you attended?
Praise: One of the most valuable lessons I gained from the IFES Young Women Leadership Program was the importance of authentic leadership. Throughout the program, I participated in sessions focused on building confidence, improving public speaking skills, and understanding key leadership principles. These experiences taught me that true leadership is not defined by one’s title, but by their ability to influence, their vision, and their sense of purpose.
The program challenged me to embrace my purpose, communicate effectively, and motivate others to take action, particularly in environments where women’s voices are often marginalized. It reinforced my belief that when women lead with authenticity and clarity, they have the power to make a lasting impact in their communities.
Praise speaks to group of people.
How did IFES’s training prepare you to conduct your own trainings at the secondary schools in Ebonyi State?
Praise: The training I received from IFES provided me with the confidence and skills to effectively engage and inspire young minds. Through sessions on leadership and public speaking, I learned how to connect with diverse audiences and deliver impactful messages. When working with secondary schools in Ebonyi State, I applied these lessons to develop interactive sessions on gender equality, leadership, and personal development. IFES taught me how to tailor my approach to empower young students, ensuring that they not only learn but also feel inspired to take action in their communities.
From your own experience, how does the quality of leadership differ when led by women?
Praise: In my experience, women-led leadership often comes with a special combination of empathy, collaboration, and resilience. As the team lead at HerRise Foundation, I facilitated open dialogue during a recent community project, ensuring that every voice was heard. This approach not only fostered trust and empathy but also sparked innovative solutions as everyone felt a sense of belonging. This demonstrates that inclusive leadership can truly transform outcomes for individuals and communities. Women leaders excel in creating environments where individuals feel valued and empowered, driving meaningful progress.
I believe it is imperative for women to take on leadership roles as diverse leadership leads to more inclusive and effective decision-making. Women bring unique perspectives shaped by their experiences and their involvement which ensures that policies and initiatives address the needs of all individuals. When women are in leadership positions, entire communities thrive.
What future impacts do you hope to see through your continued efforts?
Praise: My vision is to cultivate a generation of empowered young women who shatter barriers, redefine leadership, and create inclusive communities. As the founder of HerRise Foundation, I envision a world where every girl, regardless of her background, has access to quality education, asserts her rights, and fearlessly leads in spaces where her voice was once stifled.
Praise with school children in uniforms.
What does democracy mean to you?
Praise: Democracy embodies principles of inclusion, equality, and the empowerment of every individual to shape decisions that affect their lives. It entails establishing systems where everyone, irrespective of their status or background, has an opportunity to participate, lead, and thrive.
Through my work in Nigeria, my goal is to inspire a new generation of young people, particularly girls, to transcend limitations and lead with confidence. From initially providing sanitary pads to over 1,000 teenage girls to engage more than 3,000 students in leadership programs, I am unwaveringly committed to creating platforms where young voices are amplified, dreams are nurtured, and barriers are dismantled. My message is clear: with the right support, every child can thrive, and every girl can lead.
Headshot of Toyin
Oluwatoyin “Toyin” Adebusola Adebayo, 28, Ikirun, Ifelodun, Osun State, Nigeria
Toyin has been conducting leadership coaching sessions for young women in Osun State and established the Blooming Wellness Initiative. This organization promotes young women’s participation in leadership and addresses gender-based violence. Through her initiative, she hosts monthly dialogues on leadership and civic engagement.
How did the training you received from IFES help you in establishing the Blooming Wellness Initiative?
Toyin: The Blooming Wellness Initiative was born out of a deep-seated desire to cultivate leadership skills in young girls long before its official inception. The training provided by IFES transcended a mere two-day program; it was a transformative mentorship experience enriched with practical, hands-on activities. Participants were encouraged to express themselves openly, with facilitators offering genuine guidance that resonated deeply with me, fueling my passion for leadership.
The structured nature of the training, coupled with the unwavering support of the facilitators, ensured that we were equipped with the necessary tools to navigate the complexities of leadership.
The implementation template provided during the training proved to be indispensable too, offering a clear roadmap for planning and executing activities aimed at realizing our vision for change. Upon returning home, I was inspired to formalize my passion by officially registering the Blooming Wellness Initiative. The training provided by IFES not only equipped me with the skills and knowledge needed to lead effectively but also instilled in me the confidence to turn my aspirations into reality.
Toyin speaks at lecturn
Why do you believe it is essential for women to hold leadership positions?
Toyin: It is crucial because women are just as capable as men and can drive impactful change. Women bring a peculiar style of leadership to the table, shaped by their diverse life experiences, which can greatly enhance decision-making processes. Furthermore, women have a profound influence on the next generation of leaders – our children. By harnessing this influence through leadership roles, we can shape a brighter future for society.
The quality of leadership is distinct when women are at the helm. Women, often conditioned to prioritize family and community, bring a unique perspective that can drive a sustainable society. Their values, ability to think critically, and firsthand experience with issues affecting women and children allow them to champion policies and initiatives with passion and insight.
What future transformations do you hope to see through your continued efforts and engagement with the community?
Toyin: Moving forward, my goal is to see a community where women are empowered to realize their full leadership potential and become unstoppable forces for positive change; rising above societal norms.
Can you share a surprising discovery you made during your monthly dialogues?
Toyin: One surprising discovery during our dialogues was the decision to include graduates in attendance. I was pleasantly surprised to find that topics I initially thought were more suitable for secondary school girls were highly relevant to them. This experience revealed that, despite the numerous initiatives and interventions for young women, there is a need to pay closer attention to unemployed graduates. Supporting them in developing and honing their leadership skills has become a critical area of focus for me.
What message would you like to convey to readers worldwide about the impactful work you are doing in Nigeria?
Toyin: The work we are doing in Nigeria is centered around empowering young women to recognize and harness their leadership abilities, sparking a wave of positive transformation. Our mission is to instill confidence, build skills, and challenge societal norms that hinder women’s participation in leadership roles, paving the way for a brighter future. To readers worldwide, empowering women is not just a local endeavor, it transcends borders—it is a global imperative for creating inclusive, resilient, and sustainable societies.
After Funmilayo was also Margaret Ekpo (1914–2006) who was a teacher, politician and activist from Aba. She founded Market Women Association in Aba to fight colonial injustices against women traders. She rose as a prominent member of NCNC, representing women’s interests.
The next other woman political activist was Wuraola Esan (1909–1985), who turned out to be the first female member of the Nigerian Senate (1960–1966). She was very active in Action Group (AG) politics in Western Nigeria. She advocated women’s rights, girl-child education and social welfare and served as an influential voice in constitutional development and women’s representation in Nigeria’s First Republic.
As a matter of fact, women representation in politics and leadership is so low that it can rightly be regarded as backwardness.
China’s Agricultural Revolution: Lessons For Nigeria, By Kemi Yesufu
The 1949 revolution, led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), resulted in the proclamation of the People’s Republic of China and the CCP’s consolidation of power on the mainland. Several years after another silent revolution took place in China, it was the agricultural revolution.
It is safe to describe China as not just a vast country dotted with well-built and well-administered cities, but one which has cultivated land almost everywhere you look.
After a few days in Beijing, the beautiful capital city of China, I joined other participants for the seminar on Agricultural Machinery Development Planning and Safety Management for Developing Countries in a high-speed train to Jiamusi in Heilongjiang Province. For most of the eight-hour journey, both sides of the rail route were cultivated land with tall buildings in the background forming a nice combination of the two basic needs of man.
The team of participants from five nations, Nigeria, Uzbekistan, The Gambia, Pakistan and Jordan, travelled to Jiamusi to see more of the many factories producing the machinery and farming input that powers China’s mechanised food production. One of the places visited in Jiamusi is the fully mechanised and digitalized, Intelligent Farm run by Beidahuang Kengzheng Agricultural Machinery company. An interesting fact is that President Xi Jinping visited the same farm in 2018.
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/rv_daDaYTdA?si=1gbiwpaLoY-KL8iw/ Areal view of a mechanised farm in Jiamusi, China.
Aside from the Intelligent Farm, there are other fully mechanised and digitalized mega and medium sized farms across China. However, the secret of the country’s massive agricultural output is the smallholders who form a large chunk of the Household Contract Responsibility System. The Household Responsibility System was introduced at a critical moment of China’s reforms which saw the country move from the Soviet model of planned economy, characterized by heavy industries and complete nationalisation, which yielded inefficiency and undersupply, to a more open country prioritising shared prosperity.
In his presentation on China’s level of development and culture, MA Teng, a Senior Engineer at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Mechanisation Sciences Group (CAAMS), which hosted the two-week summit, told participants that strictly implemented reforms and, the adherence to the rule of law had seen China lift 800 million of its 1.4 billion population out of poverty. This is as Feng Li, a researcher at the Chinese Foreign Affairs University, traced China’s impressive economic indicators to the country’s past and current leaders sticking to people-centric reforms. Using data from 2024, Li further told participants that the Asian country’s GDP stands at 134,908.4 Chinese Yuan. The national income is 133,969.2 billion Yuan, industry output is 40,544.2 billion, the service sector’s total value is 765,583 billion, and domestic trade (total trade of consumer goods) hit 48,334.5 billion Yuan. For international trade, the total value of imports and exports of goods reached 43,846.8 Yuan, while the national per capita disposable income is 41,314 Yuan. But as explained by Li, China still considers itself to adeveloping country because of the rural poor whom the government is working assiduously to pull as many out of poverty.
Unlike in Nigeria, where experts and the media, based on the socioeconomic realities, have cause to dispute exciting economic indicators from the government, in China, the country’s much-touted shared prosperity philosophy is easy to see in Beijing, Jiamusi and Changchun. In the three cities visited by participants, my keen observation showed that there aren’t glaring social disparities between the two cities, far from China’s capital city. In fact, Jiamusi is home to 24 Fortune Global 500 companies. One of the thriving businesses in Jiamusi is Jichin Tractors, which produces thousands of tractors from 30-300 HP annually. Another is the Beidahuang Kengzheng Agricultural Machinery company which produces thousands of tractors and farm machinery yearly. The majority of the customers of China’s manufacturers come from within and the neighbouring countries, with the Chinese government backing these companies’ push to sell more overseas.
While China’s degree of mechanisation in crop growing, including land cultivation, sowing and harvesting, reached 72.03 % in 2021, as reported by ScienceDirect.com, in 2025, Nigeria’s leader is boasting of changing lives with the deployment of 2,000 tractors, 50 industrial-grade land preparation bulldozers, 12 fully equipped mobile workshops, and over 8,000 specialised farming implements, to improve food production for the country’s over 200 million, youth-heavy population.
Beyond the distribution of tractors and other farm equipment, President Tinubu must honestly confront other challenges that prevent the country from improving agricultural mechanisation from its current 10 percent level. Some of these challenges include: high cost and limited access to machinery, inadequate maintenance facilities and poor basic infrastructure as well as energy constraints. Other challenges include fragmented landholdings and tenure issues. Small, fragmented landholdings, common in many parts of Nigeria make it difficult to efficiently utilise large-scale machinery.
Again, in many cultures in Nigeria, women don’t inherit land; they have to rent or lease at high cost, even though women constitute a significant majority of peasant farmers, with estimates ranging from 70% to over 75%. Farmers, especially the women, also struggle to secure loans or credit to purchase machinery, especially those with limited collateral. To solve the twin problems of land ownership and machinery acquisition, the government can localise the Chinese model of Household Responsibility Contract in which families or communities come together to sign a contract with government on farming and food production, which is beneficial to both parties. Other problems stalling agricultural mechanisation include the lack of skilled labour and technical expertise and lack of effective extension services and training programs. Then there is the huge problem of bloody attacks on farms which have seen large numbers of rural dwellers abandoning farmlands. The violent attacks have led to fluctuations in the sector’s contributions to the economy. In 2020, Agriculture contributed 25.70% to the GDP, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Aside from allocating the highest figure to defence in the annual budget, the Federal Government must seek better means of dealing with banditry, kidnapping and cattle rustling.
Again, to improve agricultural mechanisation in Nigeria, a multifaceted approach is needed, including policy reforms, increased access to credit, training programs, and public-private partnerships. Specifically, this involves supporting local machine production, strengthening existing institutions, and promoting the use of modern machinery and equipment. In improving the level of farm mechanisation Nigeria can also learn from China when it comes to maintaining safety. In her presentation titled China’s Machinery Safety Supervision and Management Policies and Practices, Prof. Hua Dengfeng, disclosed that in 1978, a total of 59,546 agricultural accidents occurred with 9,734 killed and 15,326 injured. However, with nationally set and strictly implemented safety rules and laws, between 2012 to 2024, the number of accidents reduced from 2000 with 900 injuries and 700 fatalities to nil recorded accidents, injuries and mortality.
How can Nigeria collaborate with China on agricultural mechanisation? To significantly improve agricultural mechanisation, Nigeria can collaborate, as already done with Belarus and China, which is an even bigger and tested partner. Nigeria can easily key into its long history of trade and other forms of collaboration with China. By 2023, trade between China and Nigeria reached $22.56 billion, with Nigeria being China’s third-largest trading partner in Africa. In 2023, the top exports from Nigeria to China included Petroleum Gas ($995M), Crude Petroleum ($409M), and Other Mineral ($293M), according to The Observatory of Economic Complexity.
In 2023, the top exports from China to Nigeria included machinery having individual functions ($530M), broadcasting equipment ($486M), and non-knit women’s Suits ($452M), according to The Observatory of Economic Complexity.
From January to September 2024, the trade volume totalled $15.1 billion, with China’s imports from Nigeria increasing by 36.1% year-on-year.
The currency swap agreement between Nigeria and China, which was renewed in 2024 is worth $2 billion. The deal is aimed at reducing reliance on the US dollar, stabilise Nigeria’s foreign reserves, and boosting trade and investment. Nigeria is also part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Nigeria signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to join the BRI in September 2018. The initiative focuses on infrastructure development and strengthening economic and political ties between China and participating countries. Nigeria has actively engaged with the BRI, particularly in areas like railway and port infrastructure development. In building on its already existing partnerships and bilateral agreements, Nigeria can prioritise future collaboration on opportunities to improve mechanisation of agriculture in Nigeria as this critical to massive food production, ending hunger and poverty alleviation.
Kemi Yesufu, who recently returned from China, is the Editor-In-Chief/ CEO of Frontline News Online, and can be reached on yesufukemi@gmail.com