A gender-focused NGO, the Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF) has called on President Bola Tinubu to meet the 35 percent of gender inclusion in the appointment of ministers.
The call is contained in a statement issued by Chief Executive Officer of NWTF, Mrs Mufuliat Fijabi, in Abuja.
Fijabi said that the recent announcement of the 47 ministerial nominees list by Tinubu fell short of the minimum standard for women inclusion.
“Following the earlier presentation of 28 ministerial nominees list to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, we commended President Tinubu for achieving 25 percent.
“But it is surprising that only nine out of the eventual 47 nominees are women, making it just 19 percent representation.
“It is critical for this government to uphold its commitment towards gender equality and leverage the untapped potential of women in driving sustainable development and social progress of Nigeria.
“To this end, NWTF encourages President Bola Tinubu to implement affirmative action policies geared towards promoting equal opportunities for women in all political appointments and decision-making.
“This will empower women, ensure their full and effective participation in all spheres of life, towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG),” she said.
She said that the group would continue to advocate for equal representation and opportunities for women in all sectors, including government and leadership roles as a matter of urgency.
Fijabi said that the demand for true representation of women and the implementation of the 35 percent affirmative action was backed by the court judgement of April 6, 2022 upholding the National Gender Policy.
According to her, achieving gender parity is not only a matter of fairness but also necessary for effective governance.
“We will continue to engage with various stakeholders to promote inclusive governance and advocate for equitable representation at all levels,” she said.
NWTF is a Civil Society Organization focusing on closing the gender gaps in all levels of governance.
On President Tinubu’s first list to the Senate for confirmation, seven women were included out of the 28 names.
In his second list submitted on Wednesday, two women made the list of 19.
Altogether, there are nine women in Tinubu’s 47 member cabinet, which drops women’s ministerial representation to 19.15 percent.
A Federal High Court in Abuja on April 6, 2022, ordered the federal government to enforce the National Gender Policy by allotting 35 percent of appointments in the public sector to women.
Nine civil society organisations had filed the suit against the Nigerian government on Aug. 24, 2020, seeking the implementation of the 35 per cent Affirmative Action in appointments of women into public office.
The plaintiffs include: Women Empowerment & Legal Aid (WELA) Initiative, Nigeria Women Trust Fund (NWTF), International Federation of Women Lawyers, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD -West Africa).
The rest are: Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), Vision Spring Initiatives (VSI), Women In Politics Forum (WIPF), 100 Women Lobby Group and YIAGA Africa.
Delivering his judgment in the suit, Justice Donatus Okorowo, agreed with the plaintiff that Nigerian women had been subjected to various forms of discrimination concerning appointments into key positions of government.
The judge dismissed the preliminary objection of the federal government’s lawyer, Terhemba Agbe, who had argued that the plaintiff’s case did not disclose any cause of action.
Referencing Section 42 of the Nigerian constitution as it relates to the suit, the judge upheld the plaintiff’s contention to the effect “that of all the 44 ministries, there are only about six female gender, and that the situation is worse in other MDAs and agencies.”
Justice Okorowo noted that the defendant, by its conduct, insinuates that there are no competent and reliable women that should be appointed to “stop the apparent male dominance as witnessed in the appointments” of men into key government positions.
”I agree with their (plaintiff) contention that this cannot be possible out of 70 million women in Nigeria,” Okorowo said in that judgmenty.
The judge held that the then Attorney-General of the Federation (Abubakar Malami) who was the sole defendant in the case, “failed to disprove the material allegations contained in the affidavit, and led no credible evidence to debunk material evidence of the plaintiff.”
However, the federal government filed an appeal before the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal seeking an order “setting aside the judgment; and striking out and/or dismissing the Respondents’ (women) suit in its entirety.”
The lawyers for appellants (Federal Government and AGF; T. A. Gazali, SAN, T. D. Agbe, Suleiman Jibril, Ibukun Okoosi, Onyinye Halliday, O. D. Okoronkwo from Department of Civil Appeals Federal Ministry of Justice formulated 16 grounds of appeal for determination.
On one of the grounds, the appellants submitted thus: “The learned trial judge erred in law when he held that the Respondents’ suit was founded on enforcement of fundamental rights, and therefore disclosed a cause of action against the Appellants.
“Particulars Of Error: The Respondents’ suit was for the enforcement of the National gender policy. The National gender policy for 35 per cent affirmative action on the appointment of women is not based on Chapter 4 of the Constitution.
”The National gender policy was a Federal Government policy which cannot be enforced by way of fundamental rights enforcement proceedings.
“The National gender policy was not made pursuant to any provision in Chapter 4 of the Constitution. The National gender policy has no bearing on the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights Act.
”The respondents’ suit was not commenced via the procedure provided under the Fundamental Rights Enforcement Procedure Rules, 2009.
The appeal was filed on July 6, 2022, but the date for the hearing has not been fixed.
