New Telegraph

Kwara gov makes case for more women in politics

Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman Abdul- Razaq, at the weekend called for incentives for subnational governmentsmainstreaming womeninitsdecisionmaking process, saying such would boost gender inclusion in record time.

 

Speaking at a virtual conference organised by Women in Management and Business (WIMBIZ), Governor AbdulRazaq said such steps wouldmotivatemanygovernments to bring more women on board while political parties would consider gender inclusion a key campaign issue in their decisions at the primaries.

 

He said the Federal Government and development partners could make electing orappointingcertainpercentage of women a precondition for states to access certain grants or qualify for budget support like the State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) programme, for results.

 

Under the World Bankenabled SFTAS programme, states were required to score certain points or meet some threshold of transparency in exchange for grants that equal their performance in the criteria. Many states were now competing hard to score more points because they would be rewarded withfundsfor doing so, AbdulRazaq noted.

 

He also called for similar measures to encourage states and political parties to work harder for gender inclusion. Moderated by Simi Fajemirokun, the other panelists were the Senate Minority Whip, Biodun Olujimi (Ekiti South); Senator Betty Apiafi (Rivers) and prominent civil rights and gender advocate, Ambassador Nkoyo Toyo.

 

All the panelists took turns to showerencomiumsonAbdul- Razaq for his unmistakable commitment to gender inclusion and women empowerment in the state. They also called on other governors to emulate him. The theme of the conferencewas;“ Getoff thesideline: 2023 and beyond.”

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