Years of abuse in the form of toxic politics, state capture, poor governance and lack of investment in infrastructure and human capital has resulted in violent insurgency, pervasive insecurity, high unemployment and unemployability, mass poverty, a weak economy, frail social cohesion and an increasingly predatory state.
As we struggle to look to the future with hope, there are five things that women can do to engage with the political process with a view to, in the short and long term, increasing political representation and improving Nigeria. Second, design, join and/or run national political reform campaigns that can positively impact on governance and political culture. For instance, historically marginalized by the political culture of winner takes all, women should lead the demand for electoral reform and the adoption of the recommendation of the 2008 Uwais Electoral Reform Committee that our electoral system be based on proportional representation and not first-past-the post.
Fourth, women who are running for office must build broad alliances with stakeholders across various interests to ensure support from media, influencers, intellectuals, private sector and young people. This will infuse women’s campaigns with a cross section of useful talent, resources, create the required excitement and harness the power of technology and other intellectual and innovative thinking required to neutralize or minimize the role of compromised electoral bodies and security agencies.