Women task Jonathan on 35 per cent cabinet slot

FEMALE activists, under the aegis of Gender and Affirmative Action (GAA) and the 100 Women Group Platforms, have urged President Goodluck Jonathan to fulfill his campaign pledge of allocating 35 per cent of his new cabinet positions to women.
In a statement, the women urged the President-elect and all newly-elected officials to adhere to their commitment by ensuring adequate representation of the gender in the structures of the cabinet and Parliament in line with the National Gender Policy, the 35 Per Cent Affirmative Action of the Beijing Conference and other international instruments, which Nigeria is signatory to.  

The women wrote: “The 2011 general elections were seen as a good platform to authenticate the voting pattern of Nigerian women. This has been done and proofs exist of the active participation and support of women in the 2011 campaigns and elections.

“There is the need for focused advocacy for the conscious and quality inclusion of women in the structures of the newly-elected government and Parliament through actions and pronouncements that offer women opportunity to contribute concretely to national development by the actualisation of 35 Per Cent Affirmative Action for women in appointive positions (ministerial, advisory level-special assistants, heads of key parastatals, membership of boards, among others)”.

The women’s demand came on the heels of President Jonathan’s retreat to Obudu Cattle Ranch where he reportedly considered zoning of public offices and the new federal cabinet.

The groups called on the President-elect and PDP leadership to direct that all nominations from states and sectors for every positions should have at least the name of one woman out of every three nominated as a clear strategy for achieving affirmative action.

They also demanded that women should be given full consideration in the appointment of principal officers for the National Assembly from the ruling party.

They also canvassed that a minimum of 15 ministerial appointments be given to women and advisory personnel should reflect a minimum of 35 per cent of women.

The statement observed: “The result of the elections shows that there are only seven women in the 109 Senate memberships, 12 out of the 360 members of House of Representatives and one deputy governor. At the moment, the result of the state House of Assembly is still being collated, though it has also presented low performance.

“The premise on which the women's requests are made is that this is policy moment of power negotiations with the President-elect, within the ruling party and other stakeholder spaces for the appointment of members of Executive, the leadership of NASS and other governance structures”.

Source : www.ngrguardiannews.com