The League of Women Voters of Nigeria (NILOWV), has urged women to participate actively in politics rather than being praise singers to male politicians.
The Enugu State Coordinator of NILOW, Mrs Nnenna Anozie, made the call in Enugu on Wednesday during a one-day workshop organised by the group in partnership with Actionaid for female aspirants in the 2023 general elections in the state.
Anozie, a former governorship candidate in the 2019 elections, said that days were gone when women were neglected in the scheme of things and urged them to join the bandwagon for other elections in the country.
She, however, appealed to political parties to give women enabling environment to participate effectively in political activities.
According to her, the issues limiting women from participating in politics are many, including insecurity and violence usually witnessed during elections.
Anozie described the appointment of only one woman out of 68 recently appointed Local Government Council Administrators in Enugu State as the height of political marginalisation against women in the state.
The coordinator noted that the workshop afforded the organisation an opportunity to engage and train female aspirants on the art of politics in order to change the narrative.
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Delivering a lecture titled, ‘Exclusion of Women in Politics,’ a Legal practitioner, Mrs Margaret Nwagbo, said that the importance of women in governance could not be over-emphasised.
She hinted that with women in politics, there would be ability to help advance gender equality and affect changes in range of policy issues.
One of the participants, Mrs. Nene Ugwu, in an interview, acknowledged the importance of the training and thanked the organiser for empowering them on how to deal with the exclusion of women in politics in the state.
Ugwu charged other participants to educate women at the grassroots on the need to participate actively in politics in their environment.
NAN reports that the event was attended by women from different non-governmental organisations, political parties and the media. (NAN)
