By Bukola Olasanmi
The United Nations (UN) has lamented the poor representation of women vying for various positions in the forthcoming 2023 general elections.
The UN described the development as unacceptable and appalling.
Also, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has urged political parties to respect their constitutions to ensure internal democracy in the political parties and promote good governance.
The UN Women Programme Specialist, Generation equality, Desmond Osemehenjie, made the observation on at a workshop on the promotion of women in politics organised by the Centre for Democracy Development (CDD).
Osemehenjie observed that Nigeria scored low in the area of women’s participation in politics compared to other African countries.
Desmond said women’s participation in politics in Nigeria is very appalling and very unsatisfactory, and very, very unacceptable.
“Because if you look at the African sub-region, Nigeria is one of the lowest countries as far as representation on the parliament is concerned.
“Nigeria is just 4.1 per cent in the parliament as we speak to the national parliament, while in other countries like Rwanda is 67 percent, Senegal is sending about 57 per cent. These are all countries with a very high-level representation of women in parliament, but for Nigeria, it is something that is very unacceptable,” he emphasized.