A Brief Summary

Recently the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) called for social reforms and policies that enhance gender equality in governance, politics and international affairs. The decision comes in the backdrop of celebrating International Women's day in Lagos.

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The theme of this year is about recognising and acknowledging the role women and girls play in addressing climate change and sustainability issues. President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, DR Michael Olawale Cole, lauded the efforts of women and girl children while celebrating women's day a few days ago in Lagos.

Cole said, referring to this year's theme, " Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow", will provide an opportunity to join voices with people internationally and shout out a message for equal rights and that"Women's rights are human rights."

He emphasised giving women equal access to resources to add more value to society. The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) said that if women had access to productive resources equally, they could reap farm yields by 20 to 30 per cent. That will help around 100 to 150 million people move away from hunger, thus reducing global hunger to 17 per cent.

Women's representation at all levels of government will bolster performances and give more environmental outcomes, he said. Meanwhile, women's participation at the local level in managing resources led to more equitable and inclusive resource management and better sustainability in Nigeria.

In his opinion, women in public services are less corrupt than their men counterparts. Nigeria is a country that has women constituting half of the population, yet they are still underrepresented and not given what they truly deserve. The main reason for the underrepresentation of women is due to some stereotypes existing in society, such as abuse of religion, traditional practices and patriarchal societal structures.

Both Chambers of the National Assembly presented a bill that could alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 to provide seats for women at the National and State Houses of Assembly. But the bill was rejected by a majority vote and led to women groups protesting across the country.

“We urge the government to leverage this Bill passage to deliberately work toward the inclusion of women in governance as this would give Nigeria international recognition and relevance. Political parties should also be sensitive to the provisions of this Bill towards ensuring that deliberate steps are taken to include more women in the running of the parties and offer elective opportunities to women,” he said.

Nigeria is a signatory to several international treaties that support women in politics should come up and enact more local laws that back their participation according to international provisions.

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