WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN NIGERIA

Nigeria is a signatory of myriad of local,  regional and global conventions which includes but not limited to the 2015 Violence against Persons Prohibition Act, 2003 Africa Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, 1979 Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights  and the 2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals which seeks to protect the rights of Women but contrary is the case as happenings in every part of the country reflects not only the marginalization of women but practices of various harmful practices still persists Anyogu and Okpalobi (2016:9-10), Odigie-Emmanuel (2010).

The marginalization and repression of Women from the political process reflects in the abysmal number of women who have been elected in various political offices since return to democracy in 1999 with 2019 being the lowest as statistics from Ford Foundation and PLAC(2018:5) reveals Nigeria achieved the highest percentage (7.0 percent) of women’s representation in the lower parliament (the House of Representatives) in 2007 after the dismal record of 3.4 percent and 4.9 percent in 1999 and 2003, respectively. However, the figures declined to 6.8 percent and 5.6 percent in 2011 and 2015. Another manifestation is the killing and maiming of women as demonstrated in the killing of Salome Abuh Peoples Democratic Leader Women Leader in the November 2019 Kogi State Governorship Elections (Nuhu 2019). I am of the strong perspective that is linked to the patriarchal nature of the Nigerian society which limits the role of Women to reproductive and care role.

Albeit, Women have played a significant role in the Nigeria political process such as Chief Mrs Margaret Ekpo who contested and won   election, to become a member  of  the  Eastern Nigeria  House  of  Assembly  till  1961 – 1966 (Oloyede 2016:5) as well as the Aba Women's riot of 1929 which saw Women coming together to repel obnoxious polices set up by the Colonial Government (Onyeakagbu 2019). More than ever before, Nigerian Women irrespective of their socio-economic status needs to come together to develop an agenda on meaningful representation and participation in the political space not to compete with men but to work side by side for the Nigerian state and generations yet unborn.

REFERENCES

Anyogu Felicia and B.N. Okpalobi- Human Right Issues and Women’s Experiences on Demanding  their  Rights  in their  Communities :The  Way  Forward  for  Nigeria- Global Journal of Politics and Law ResearchVol.4, No.1, pp.9-17, February 2016.

Ford Foundation and Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre- Women’s Political Representation in Nigeria: Why Progress is slow and What can be done to Fast-track it- http://placng.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Women-Political-Represen... Accessed November 27th 2019.

Nuhu Salome- UN condemns killing of PDP women leader in Kogi- https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/365410-un-condemns-killing-of-pdp-women-leader-in-kogi.html- Accessed November 27th 2019.

Odigie-Emmanuel Omoyemen -  Assessing women’s rights in Nigeria- https://www.pambazuka.org/gender-minorities/assessing-women%E2%80%99s-rights-nigeria- Accessed November 27th 2019.

Oloyede Oluyemi- Monitoring Participation of Women in Politics in  Nigeria https://unstats.un.org/unsd/gender/Finland_Oct2016/Documents/Nigeria_paper.pdf Accessed November 27th 2019.

Onyeakagbu Adaobi - The real story behind the Aba women's riot and the list of people that died- https://www.pulse.ng/lifestyle/food-travel/the-real-story-behind-the-aba-womens-riot-and-the-list-of-people-that-died/605kbl1-Accessed November 27th 2019

WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN NIGERIA

Nigeria is a signatory of myriad of local,  regional and global conventions which includes but not limited to the 2015 Violence against Persons Prohibition Act, 2003 Africa Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, 1979 Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights  and the 2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals which seeks to protect the rights of Women but contrary is the case as happenings in every part of the country reflects not only the marginalization of women but practices of various harmful practices still persists Anyogu and Okpalobi (2016:9-10), Odigie-Emmanuel (2010).

The marginalization and repression of Women from the political process reflects in the abysmal number of women who have been elected in various political offices since return to democracy in 1999 with 2019 being the lowest as statistics from Ford Foundation and PLAC(2018:5) reveals Nigeria achieved the highest percentage (7.0 percent) of women’s representation in the lower parliament (the House of Representatives) in 2007 after the dismal record of 3.4 percent and 4.9 percent in 1999 and 2003, respectively. However, the figures declined to 6.8 percent and 5.6 percent in 2011 and 2015. Another manifestation is the killing and maiming of women as demonstrated in the killing of Salome Abuh Peoples Democratic Leader Women Leader in the November 2019 Kogi State Governorship Elections (Nuhu 2019). I am of the strong perspective that is linked to the patriarchal nature of the Nigerian society which limits the role of Women to reproductive and care role.

Albeit, Women have played a significant role in the Nigeria political process such as Chief Mrs Margaret Ekpo who contested and won   election, to become a member  of  the  Eastern Nigeria  House  of  Assembly  till  1961 – 1966 (Oloyede 2016:5) as well as the Aba Women riot of 1929 which saw Women coming together to repel obnoxious polices set up by the Colonial Government (Onyeakagbu 2019). More than ever before, Nigerian Women irrespective of their socio-economic status needs to come together to develop an agenda on meaningful representation and participation in the political space not to compete with men but to work side by side for the Nigerian state and generations yet unborn.

REFERENCES

Anyogu Felicia and B.N. Okpalobi- Human Right Issues and Women’s Experiences on Demanding  their  Rights  in their  Communities :The  Way  Forward  for  Nigeria- Global Journal of Politics and Law ResearchVol.4, No.1, pp.9-17, February 2016.

Ford Foundation and Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre- Women’s Political Representation in Nigeria: Why Progress is slow and What can be done to Fast-track it- http://placng.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Women-Political-Represen... Accessed November 27th 2019.

Nuhu Salome- UN condemns killing of PDP women leader in Kogi- https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/365410-un-condemns-killing-of-pdp-women-leader-in-kogi.html- Accessed November 27th 2019.

Odigie-Emmanuel Omoyemen -  Assessing women’s rights in Nigeria- https://www.pambazuka.org/gender-minorities/assessing-women%E2%80%99s-rights-nigeria- Accessed November 27th 2019.

Oloyede Oluyemi- Monitoring Participation of Women in Politics in  Nigeria https://unstats.un.org/unsd/gender/Finland_Oct2016/Documents/Nigeria_paper.pdf Accessed November 27th 2019.

Onyeakagbu Adaobi - The real story behind the Aba women's riot and the list of people that died- https://www.pulse.ng/lifestyle/food-travel/the-real-story-behind-the-aba-womens-riot-and-the-list-of-people-that-died/605kbl1-Accessed November 27th 2019