Senate President Godswill Akpabio has revealed major reason women lose elections in Nigeria saying this is because other women don’t vote for them.
Akpabio dropped the comment on Tuesday when he hosted a team from the European Union Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, led by Mr. David McAllister, at the National Assembly in Abuja.
“Women often vote for male candidates, making it difficult for female candidates to win elections,” he said.
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He lamented that despite women making up almost half of Nigeria’s voters, only a few make it into government.
Right now, just four out of 109 senators and 17 out of 360 House of Reps members are women a figure that’s barely moved in 20 years.
Akpabio said things need to change fast, revealing that the National Assembly is already thinking of new ways including possible tweaks to the constitution to help more women get into politics.
He added that lawmakers are open to working with advocacy groups like the Black Women’s Forum to push for real gender balance and get more women sitting at the decision-making table.