President Muhammadu Buhari has called for a consideration and passage of Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill now before the National Assembly and implementation of 35 percent affirmative action by all political parties.
The President, who spoke at Summit in Abuja today, Thursday, by Women Political Aspirants and Advocacy, jointly organized by National Council for Women Societies (NCWC), Women in Politics Forum and Office of Wife of the President at the National Center for Women Development, said “I am happy to say that I am in support of both issues because they will improve the representation of women in political office.”
He called on all political parties to create the needed enabling environment for women to have level playing field to contest elective positions.
The President said that politicians rely on women because their word is usually their bond, saying: “they stand by candidates they believe in, and therefore politicians do a lot to gain this confidence.”
He used the opportunity to thank Nigerian women for having confidence in him by voting for him in 2015 and asked them to sustain such confidence as he gets set to bring more development in all sectors of the nation’s life.
In her remarks, Mrs. Aisha Buhari charged women to aspire for political office and that with political office, they can effect the change they want to see in society.
She said that access to clean drinking water, hygiene and sanitation, health care and effective educational systems are things that are always in the minds of every woman. She said that the election of women is achievable because women make up the larger body of voters and as such can determine the fate of any election.
She called on religious and political leaders to support and encourage women candidacy even as she also called on women to support one another, especially when more than one are vying for the same position.
