Fahimta Women and youth development initiative has called on women to contests for elective positions in the forthcoming local government polls in Bauchi.
Hajiya Hassana Lawal Bello, a women advocate made the call during a presentation tittle “barriers to women active participation in governance” at two-day training organised by the NGO.
Hajiya Hussana noted that, the inability of women to actively participate in politics and compete for elective posts is worrisome.
She said “women were left without a voice in decision making”, citing setback economic development as a major problem hindering them from active participation in democratization process in Nigeria.
She listed some of the barriers to women participation in politics to include educational, economic, cultural and traditional, adding, the challenges are fueled by violence and intimidation.
The resource person expressed dissatisfaction with lack of political will on the side of the government in providing level playing ground and equal opportunity for women to compete with their male counterparts.
“It is high time for government to enact electoral codes of conduct that will give equal opportunity for women to participate actively in politics and decision making”.
She thanked Fahimta women and youth development initiative for the opportunity given to the participants, urging them to make good use of the knowledge acquired.
In a remark, the Executive Director of Fahimta, Hajiya Maryam Garba thanked the participants for their patients throughout the training, assuring that her NGO was willing to do more in educating women on the need to participate actively in politics.
The workshop which was supported by Actionaid Nigeria drew participants from different LGAs in the state.
