Mrs Florence Itamunoala

For the first time in her chequered history, Rivers
State not only has a woman as Deputy Governor  but a female Chief Judge of the State as well.
In this interview with Opaka Dokubo, Mrs Florence Itamunoala, chairperson of the International Federation of  Women Lawyers, Nigeria, Rivers State branch, bared her mind on this development and other issues concerning the advancement of women in politics in Rivers State and Nigeria in general Exerpts.

Given the present positions women occupy in Rivers State, would you say women have arrived here?
I wouldn’t say we have arrived by any standard.
We’re very grateful to God and His Excellency because if he hadn’t been on board, we probably wouldn’t have had a Deputy Governor who is a female and a Chief Judge who is a female. I mean those of  us who are in Rivers State know that that wouldn’t have been possible at this point in time. So we’re grateful to God and to His Excellency, Chief (Barr) Ezenwo Nyesom Wike but women in Rivers State wouldn’t say that we have arrived.
It’s good that women have started to hold such positions in the state but more than that, we expect more women to come out and go for elective positions, not just the appointive positions.
If you say we have arrived, look at the House of Assembly, how many women even came out to contest and lost?
Not many. So, we’re still very far. Until we have a situation where women are prepared to come out and contest and contend with the men at the same level, we wouldn’t say we have arrived at all.
We are concerned about not just appointment, infact, we want more of elective positions.
What mark have you set for yourselves?
Even if I have to start by talking about the 35% Affirmative Action thing, look at the House of Assembly, what percentage of women do we have there? It’s really bad.
In other areas too, I wouldn’t say we are up to the required standard for now which is the 35%. So there is a lot more to be done by the women in this state. so that we don’t lag behind women in other states.
Are you satisfied with the number of  women on the cabinet in Rivers State?
Well, we really hope that when more appointments are made, His Excellency who by God’s grace is favourably disposed to having women on board will help the women to come up to, at least, that 35% mark.
This time around, I think the state is not yet stable with all that the state has gone through. But for the fact that he was able to pick a lady as a Deputy Governor and appoint a Chief Judge, for now, it’s thumbs up for him. I hope that subsequently we will be able to attain that desired goal of 35%.
How do you see this situation beyond Rivers State?
Yes, I know that even our national body made a comment about it (concerning the federal cabinet) that it’s completely unacceptable because it’s too far below the required percentage for women in appointive positions.
The truth is that we can only keep talking, enlightening people. But the way it is, it lies with the person in  charge. The much we can do is what we are doing; appealing to them, advocating that more women should be given appointive positions.
What are women doing to take up more elective positions?
A lot of women need capacity building including those of us who are into activism.
I could remember of particular year we were sponsored by an organisation to empower women in politics and that year, by the grace of God, we as an organisation were trained and we were also able to train others.
For example, I remember clearly, the late Mrs Anthonia Membere used to acknowledge the fact that FIDA trained and built her capacity. But unfortunately, such opportunities have not come for a long time now and it costs quite a lot to undertake such ventures.
Apart from her (Anthonia Membere, former member of the Rivers State House of Assembly), there were quite a number of women who thought they didn’t have a chance but were encouraged and had their capacity built by FIDA to come up.
Yes they had a lot of opposition but some progress was achieved even though some of the  positions were not very high positions like councillors and  the like. But it was a starting point and  it was good.
The problem now is to have  people who will encourage and empower the association to build the capacity of women. Some of these women actually know that politically they have something to offer but for the fear of stigmatization. Indeed we had to contend with issues of stigmatization of women in politics that year before some of the women were able to come up. So those are some of the challenges we have. But honestly, we feel really disappointed looking at the trend of things now and we realize that there is a need to begin a more intensive drive to empower women to be able to come out for elective positions.
Would FIDA consider  sponsoring a woman for an elective position?
Well, that is a very important point to consider but like I said, when you talk about sponsoring a person, it is not enough to identify and pick out a person. You must be ready to back up the person financially and in every way.
And that is where a lot of women have the problem.
But I do know that there are some organizations that are trying to come up now to say that if there’s a viable woman who wants to run for any of such offices, they would be able to, may be, back up the person. We hope that many organizations come up and are actually willing then we will be able to partner with them to sponsor women.
We have to have a willing woman and if we can identify one amongst us who is able, and there are, but the person must be willing, definitely we will be able to bring out the person and sponsor the person. But if not, generally we’re interested in women.
So, wheresoever the woman is coming from, once she is capable and able, we will be willing to sponsor such a person.
Why are female lawyers so few in politics?
I wouldn’t say there’s anything else other than the same problems we have identified that affect women generally all over the world-this issue of the biases against the woman. So whether you’re a lawyer woman or whatever, you’re still a woman.
We hope that, by God’s grace, gradually we will get there.
I think there is a need to begin to encourage our lawyer women to begin to go out there. May be we’ve not been conscious of it. We‘ ve always advocated for others but on our part, may be, we’ve never considered ourselves as politicians or as those that could go into politics.
We have a few out there, like, by the grace of God, some commissioners in the state as presently constituted are FIDANS.
But having said this, may be, we will begin to look in that direction to encourage our members, not just at the state level, but also at the national level.
Like you said, a lot of people have confidence when they see a female lawyer coming out. So, we will begin to think along that line.
From a woman’s point of  view, how do you see the political situation in the region especially?
It’s really pathetic that in this century we’re still faced with such crisis just because of election. But I will call on women as mothers to talk to their children, wives to also talk to their husbands. It does no one any good when blood is shed, when in order to get a position you want to maim, kill, destroy.
It shouldn’t be because if it happens to A today, tomorrow it could happen to B on the other side.
I think it is high time that everyone of us began to aspire to have free and fair elections in the real sense of the word. We must let down our pride, ego and everything. Democracy ought to be about the people choosing their leaders.
It’s really high time we got it right, we want the country to move forward.