Women

Women’s Participation In The Nigerian Project, 61 Years After

Published

4 years ago

October 1, 2021

Women constitute an indispensable force in the quest for national development of any nation. In the developed nations, women have been able to play this important role. However, in Nigeria, where women were originally relegated to the background, due largely to some religious and traditional restrictions, women seem now to be evolving in their contribution to national development.
61 years after the declaration of Nigeria, the giant of Africa, as an independent state, one can only fairly assess the participation of women in the Nigerian project by reminiscing on their background, their past, so we can measure their level of involvement in the project called Nigeria
A lot has been said and written about the efforts of the Nigerian woman at grappling with barriers, obstacles to her overall advancement in life. As one found in a social system in which men hold primary power and predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property, the Nigerian woman’s story is distinct as she had to leverage on the only permissible space granted her by her male counterpart to make impact.
Though no less in status to her male counterparts but was found relegated to the second class position orchestrated by tradition and religion which created a glass ceiling, an invisible but strong barrier that stands in the way of women. The result was an obvious lack of educational, economic and political power necessary to actualise their innate potentials.
The “gender status belief” which claimed that men are more competent and intelligent than women, a reason for which they have higher positions in career hierarchy, as well as the allusion that women are inferior and better suited in their biological roles as mothers and spouses, did not help matters. They hindered women’s success and their rights in every aspect. Although gender inequalities affect women disproportionately, the entire society pays a price for them.
Needless to assert that she came from a background of one designed to be seen and not heard, her saving grace were series of interventions especially by the United Nations (UN) and some non-governmental organisations which were highly instrumental in announcing her as one not only with a voice, but one with remarkable impact on the society if given the atmosphere to operate.
Nonetheless, women have worked hard and relentlessly over the years to break those barriers and earned their deserving place in leadership roles. Thus, by improving their status and assisting in total development, women now enjoy integration into the global economy.
At different times in history, some concerned minds took pains to assemble data of women development, especially in the third world countries, Nigeria most importantly. Their finding revealed that though gender inequality still exists in Nigeria, there’s currently a great awareness that women have great potentials, unharnessed for nation building, if given the required enabling environment.
However, the re-introduction of democratic governance has witnessed once again an increase in women political participation both in elective and appointive offices. The extant National Gender Policy (NGP) recommended 35 percent affirmative action instead and sought for a more inclusive representation of women with at least 35 percent of both elective political and appointive public service positions respectively.
This ofcourse, isn’t a bad start for a folk that had been relegated to the background over the years.The Rivers State example where the position of the local government vice chairman is exclusively reserved for women is a demonstration of the confidence of the people in the women’s ability to deliver in leadership mandate. It is also an expression of willingness of the people to experiment their trust in the leadership prowess of the women. And like a student under the tutelage of his master, having served as a vice, can make an ultimate leader.
At 61, Nigeria womcan boast of having produced a state governor in Dame Virginia Ngozi Etiaba, an impressive woman and record breaker, who was the Governor of Anambra State, from November 2006 to February 2007. She is the first female governor in Nigeria’s history. She became governor following the impeachment of the previous governor, Peter Obi, for alleged gross misconduct. Although her tenure was brief, it was quite impactful.
Nigerian women in this dispensation also produced deputy governors for Rivers , Anambra, Enugu, Lagos, Kaduna, These distinguished women, carved a niche for themselves as accomplished grassroots politicians with passion for the emancipation of the womenfolk and youth development, especially girl-child education.
Their passion and determination to render quality public service that will impact the lives of the people, especially vulnerable members of the society, saw some of them being re-elected or appointed into other offices after their first tenure.
As a mother, one of the deputy governors was inspired to sponsor motions and bills that would lift people with special needs. She also played vital roles in seeing that women and youths were empowered in the state. Another interesting motion she moved while in the house was to ensure that drivers undergo driving examinations in order to reduce the high rate of accidents in the state.
For appointive positions, nigerian women have done so well in defence of their appointment. The likes of Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, served first as cordinating minister for the economy under Obasanjo, 15 July 2003 – 21 June 2006 minister of foreign affairs, 21 June 2006 – 30 August 2006, Minister of finance 17 August 2011 – 29 May 2015 under Goodluck Jonathan. Her prowess in financial matters endeared her to the Buhari-led administration where she was nominated and subsequently became the director general of the world trade organisation
In the area of health, although Nigeria has the highest number of maternal deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa and high rates of under-5 child mortality. Female health workers are particularly important in the north of the country because social norms in rural communities can prohibit women from receiving care from male health workers. For this reason, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has trained women to be service providers in six states in northern Nigeria through its Women for Health (W4H) programme.
Since November 2012, W4H increased the number and capacity of female health workers in Borno, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Yobe, and Zamfara, while at the same time supported women’s empowerment, promoted gender equality, and tackled trauma. It improved women’s access to and use of health services in northern Nigeria and advanced Nigeria’s journey toward universal health coverage.
W4H worked closely with other health and education programs in the states, and took a “building back better” approach in conflict and humanitarian emergency-affected areas of Borno and Yobe states and ensured the sustainability of progress in Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, and Zamfara.
A national team, led by Dr Fatima Adamu, provided technical support to state-level teams, backed by a senior technical advisory group. The programme was led by DAI Global Health in partnership with Save the Children. W4H worked closely with 22 midwifery, nursing, and community health extension worker training institutions and state ministries of health to support the training of female health workers and their deployment to rural health facilities.
The list of their sample activities include; “Improving the capacity of colleges of nursing and midwifery and colleges of health technology to train female health workers, improving the accreditation status and training capacity of health training colleges, and increasing graduation rates.
Improving the recruitment, deployment, and retention of midwives in rural facility while implementing a Foundation Year Training Programme, or access course, for rural women to improve their academic credentials, study skills, and confidence to enter health worker training.
Engaging with community, religious, and training institutions to create a gender-friendly environment for women to pursue health careers, and facilitating locally led scale-up.
Institutionalising short-term courses and modules in the curriculum to prepare health workers for deployment in conflict settings and humanitarian programming.
Recently, the National Centre for Women Development embarked on the collection of a national data on involvement and participation of women in politics in Nigeria, one of the objectives of the data collection is to provide a baseline for the implementation of the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Hopes are high that the result will show the progress steadily made to achieving the affirmative declaration and determine how the gap that erstwhile existed has been closed as well as measure the variation between where we are and the affirmative action of 35 percent. Also, it will improve evidence-based planning and programming involving women in decision making; increase the support of key stakeholders on measures to increase representation of women in decision-making and further improve awareness of new advocacy tools among stakeholders to support the campaign for increased representation of women in the decision making in Nigeria.
As partaining to education, although Nigeria continues to face struggles getting its young females to enter and remain in school, the nation has made considerable progress in recent years. According to the World Bank’s Education Data, the number of girls enrolled in primary school increased from 79 percent to 92.3 percent between 2008 and 2013.24. The highest literacy rates in Nigeria were registered in the southern regions of the country. In the South West, 89 percent of males and 80.6 percent of females were literate as of 2018.
As more women pursue higher education and enter careers, younger girls will have role models to show them that higher education is attainable for females. Also, these role models will demonstrate that pursuing education opens doors to opportunities otherwise forever unavailable to girls. Many schools in Nigeria hoping to increase female attendance have begun peer mentorship programmes in which older girls connect with younger ones, giving the former an immediate sense of meaning for their education (helping younger kids) and the latter both academic and social role models to hopefully encourage them to keep coming to school.
Women at Nigeria’s Universities. Increased participation of women in the education sector is also visible at the university level — when Nigeria gained independence in 1960, only 7.7 percent of Nigeria’s college students were female. By 2001, that number had skyrocketed to 41.7 percent and it continues to rise. In 2009, 45 percent of all university students in Nigeria were female.
Engineering and computer science have remained heavily male dominated. Only 21% of engineering majors and 19% of computer science majors are women. This is one field women need to be encouraged to explore.

By: Sylvia ThankGod-Amadi

City Crime

Women And Dangers Of Obnoxious Practices

Published

2 weeks ago

September 12, 2025

The Tide

It is worrisome to hear that a woman or a girl is bathed with acidic contents just because she refuses to adhere to one instruction or the other from an opposite sex.

Sometimes, you see a woman with bruises on the face, with one eye swollen as if she is an animal perhaps she demanded one or two things from her spouse.

A situation where a widow will be mandated to marry a brother-in-law for her to still belong to the family where she is married and to partake in inheritance should be looked into.

Severally, there have been talks, seminars, workshops, fora, arguments, bills and laws abolishing the issues that concern women, especially violence. But much has not been achieved to curtail the menace.

Violence against girls and women has been on the increase. From time to time, it is either girls are denied access to father’s property or a widow is denied inheritance to husband’s properties. Even when laws are put in place about things that will help women have their rights, some persons feel that culture and tradition do not permit such laws.

We are aware that some women are rich and may not want to partake in the share of their late parents’ property, but there are vulnerable ones who may need to be empowered, through perhaps, late parents’ property inheritance.

Some of the obnoxious laws were made before now without the consent of women. There was no enough representation to either argue for or against so as to be beneficial to women generally. Some of the laws were so primitive that even when civilisation came, became difficult to change. Very unfortunately, it is the women sometimes who execute the laws made by men in their absence. But women are suffering it.

If government can establish laws abolishing certain practices against women and girls, it will be better for them and should in the presence of women so that they can contribute as well.

For long, laws against female genital mutilation and circumcision have existed but some communities with their culture and tradition have refused to put a stop to it with reasons best known to them.

Circumcision of a full-grown girl or lady may not be the only way of attaining maturity. It is a harmful practice and the pain associated with it cannot be imagined. The illegal operation is not performed in the hospital so the dangers inherent will be much.

For those who still practise it, the menace should be discouraged as that is not a proper way of ushering a girl into womanhood. A lot of women lose their lives due to pains experienced during the process. If it was practised in the past when civilisation was not there, it is a different case, nowadays with science and technology proving it wrong, those who still practice should resist.

We know that government is doing a lot to save women and girls from some of the pains they go through but right steps should be taken in the right direction and all stakeholders intensify efforts in dealing with persons who perpetuate evil against their fellow women.

One issue that comes to mind is implementation even if policies and laws are out in place by relevant agencies. The issues have been dwelt on for decades, but it is still practised as big ceremonies in some communities.

When it comes to inheritance, a girl born into a family, married or unmarried will be denied access to father’s property.

When parents are sick, the female child will pick him or her for care and offset medical bills. If it has to do with the demise of parents, the woman and the husband will be mandated to provide a cow and perform other burial rites.

If the National Assembly makes laws concerning the well-being of women, community heads, molecular leaders, women groups and associations, religious organisations, Non-Governmental organizations (NGOs) and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) should create more awareness through the media to sensitise rural dwellers.

In this digital era, it should be forbidden that a woman loses her spouse and she is mandated to drink water used on the late husband.

A legal practitioner, Tam Jacobs, said if one forcefully shaves a woman’s hair with the intention that she is mourning her late spouse, she can sue that person for assault.

He said if the woman is forced to drink water used on her late husband’s body, she can also sue for attempted murder.

According to him, several cases of girl-child inheritance have been won and documented in the law court but some cannot claim it.

“Even a widow who is handicapped may not be able to make attempts so NGOs, CSOs should be in the forefront to support them and ensure that the laws are implemented at the grassroots level where they are practised”, he said.

A pharmacist, Eno Amos said any culture that does not add colour and value to life, especially as it concerns women should be abolished.

She added that implementation can be easy in the cities where awareness has been created but expressed fear that it may not be easy in the rural areas where culture is really practised.

A business woman, Agnes Ugwu, said tradition and culture were made by man and not God and wondered why people who claim to be educated still follow the tradition of ancestors who never went to school.

Ignorance also comes to play here. If you have watched a documentary showing female genital mutilation and the gory experience the young women go through is something else. Some of the perpetrators claim that the practice has existed for ages. Women have to learn more about issues that concern them.

A nurse, Rosy Ekeocha, said it is not about culture but about the behavior of a group of people in the community who force it on others.

According to her, let people change their behaviour and leave culture alone. It does not happen in every family and if any family allows it that is its business.

She said we are in the 21st century, certain cultures and tradition need to be reviewed to ensure that they align with today’s reality.

Culture is dynamic she said, but that implementation of laws relating to the vulnerable in the society calls for concern.

We should not behave the way people behaved twenty decades ago, after all, we do not dress the way our forefathers dressed. Time has evolved and things are getting better as it concerns women. We are getting more exposed and more enlightened about issues that concern us. Information is moving round as the world is a global village.

Talking about culture nowadays, we wear shoes whereas our forefathers never had any. They walked barefooted

far distances to get family necessities but things are better now as we are mobile.

That should also happen to culture and tradition. There are certain aspects of our culture and tradition which are practised today that have expired long ago. We should get rid off them.

Sometime, the bill for prohibition of obnoxious practices against women at the National Assembly was a welcome development, how far have the powers that be gone to ensure that it favours women.

It is expected that the bills abolishing obnoxious practices against women and girls in the society should have started achieving results as it concerns their wellbeing.

Eunice Choko-Kayode

Women

Early Start Of Education: The Dangers On Children

Published

2 weeks ago

September 12, 2025

The Tide

There are worries these days about the way parents are sending their kids to school earlier than it was many years ago.

A situation where children of six and nine months are sent to creche and day care centres all in the name of starting them early.

Although some parents whose schedules are tight say they have no choice than to do that since getting a house help or nanny has a lot of implications for the child and the family.

But aside that, some people feel that the benefit of sending their children to school so early will help them secure job early. And the issue of starting life early.

So many years ago, children of school age were not allowed to start school until their hands could cross from one part of their ear to another. That was the yardstick used to ascertain whether a pupil could start school or not.

It is important that our wards acquire education early but their lives should not be put on danger because parents want them to finish school early.

The truth is that parents are pushing their children into school these days as if there is competition among families and friends. This is not healthy enough for our young ones.

I don’t understand why a child of 12 years should be in Senior Secondary School (SS2). It means that the child will be and graduate at age 13 or 14 in SSS3. This should be discouraged by school managers.

Which university will admit a student of 14 or 15 when universities insist they must be 16 years-old before being admitted. I’ve seen a child who performed well both in SSCE and UTME but was denied admission by one of the universities because he was below 16 years.

In fact, the stakeholders have come up with the issue well clarified that, students seeking admission into the universities must be 16 years of age. That’s a welcome development.

Maturity is one of the factors affecting teaching and learning process. Parents should not send their children to school earlier than it should be.

No matter how intelligent a child is, he should not be allowed to jump any class. School managers should resist parents who may want their children to jump from one class to another.

Even if a child scores Excellent in all subjects in a particular class, that child should be allowed to touch all the classes, complete primary 6 of lower basic. That will make a significant impact on that child.

Many of us year back started secondary school at the age of 12 and 13 and never lost anything, as we graduated at 17, 18 and 19 before seeking admission into the university.

Back in secondary school, some students were already 20 years and never bordered being in the same class with younger persons.

There are children who are exceptionally good but that does not mean a child should be sent to school prematurely. That child may suffer inferiority complex in the midst of seniors.

Children should be allowed to move with their peers. This will give them a sense of belonging among peers. When a child begins to nurse the problem of inferiority complex, he will certainly experience withdrawal syndrome. Peer group pressure becomes a problem on the child.

Those are some of the challenges resulting from keeping younger persons among the older ones. We are not in danger so we should not put our children into such uncomfortable scenario.

Nowadays, children are getting into school at tender age as parents dictate. There are things children are supposed to learn as kids at a particular level and when they jump such level and get to a point where parents want them to be, one day, those children will definitely feel it and the significant of that particular level will manifest.

Children should be allowed to enjoy whatever thing they are meant to enjoy at every level. No level of a child’s development should be ignored. Every stage of development is important no matter how intelligent that child may be.

Stakeholders know why every curriculum is prepared in a way to sooth every child so parents should allow children to enjoy every stage in their lives.

A teacher once told me that children below 10 years who find themselves on secondary schools do not concentrate in class. They find it difficult to concentrate no matter what the teacher does.

Parents deny their kids parental care. Sometimes in schools, parents abandon their wards at the mercy of minders after school hours, up to 6:00 p. m. Whereas they should have gone home earlier to prepare for the next day.

Even at home, they are left in the hands of house helps and nannies while parents are busy looking for money. Children are denied parental care and are not getting full maturity because of these factors.

Another reason for this rush by parents is pride. A parent may be boasting that his child is either in ABC school and representing the whole world while another person’s child is at home or one “inferior” school.

Children who are pushed into school prematurely do not sustain it most times. Students of 15 and 16 years-old going into university can suffer depression according to research.

Researches have also shown that they (younger) ones risk the problem of mental health more than the older classmates.

In the case of creche and day care centres, the idea is not really to acquire education yet, some parents decide to keep their babies so that they can go about their daily businesses. It is true they need money to cater for their households, but should avoid that tender age, the best training any child can have is from parents, while teachers and caregivers are secondary.

Teaching and learning process begin with the parents. No matter how tight the parents’ schedules may be, they must take care of their kids. Parents must devote time to nurture and teach their children many things that they cannot learn in classroom. They should not rush them through life all in a bid to acquire education early.

It is worrisome that parents rush their children to school while they cannot speak and understand their languages and dialects.

One of the guidelines in the National Policy in Education is that children should be taught in their mother tongue at home while they learn foreign language in school.

The NPE also stipulates that every child at the basic level should be taught the language of the place of residence. If school managers are not obeying the instruction, parents need to do a follow-up.

Parents rush their children to school while they do not understand their environment, culture and tradition of theirs and others. Although a few schools devote little time to mark cultural day for the kids.

It is good that children start school early and graduate at 20, 21 and may be get a job at 23 and 24 as some employers will indicate.

Recently, organisations were inviting graduates of between 23 and 25 years for job offers. This caused a lot of reactions from the public. The question people asked was about when the children started school and youth corps service to seek for job in the labour market.

There was a period students secured admission between the ages of 22 and 23 years as a result of either delay in obtaining credits in their choice of disciplines and high scores in UTME. They still graduated at 27 and 28 before proceeding for national youth service.

I think this is one of the reasons why many decide to start their children early to scale through those external exams early enough.

When parents start their children early, they may be exposed to emotional and psychological problems in schools. A lot of them make more friends for protection as they are easily apprehensive.

The morals they needed both at home would have been denied them. At the end of the day, they may acquire good education but lack morals.

The family is the first school for the child but because parents are engaged, the creche and day care centres become their option.

Early start for the children affects their productivity. Factors like home, society and government are responsible.

Charity, they say, begins at home. Parents must have a balance. It is a known fact to that parents need to work to provide money for the family but must make out time to take care of the children.

Eunice Choko-Kayode

Women

Who Is A Classic Woman?

Published

1 month ago

August 22, 2025

The Tide

A classic woman is one who has identified herself in terms of fashion, occupation or the kind of business she does.

A woman can be classical in the way she entertains her audience in terms of music and movies. You will discover that some female musicians are identified with the kind of music they sing.

A classical woman is one who always wants to appear trendy.

Generally, classical women are normally identified with the kind of things they are involved in.

There are ladies that want to be identified with wearing of shorts (short trousers) in the public. They use it to showcase their beauty. They want to be identified with such things as they see it as socialisation.

Some wear trousers that are so tight just to showcase all the curves they possess.

Consultant stylists and etiquette experts say some fashions won by some persons are inappropriate because of how and when they are won.

A classic woman is supposed to dress properly. She should be able to wear clothes that will not expose hidden parts of her body. When such occurs, then it is indecent dressing.

Ladies should be known for two things, classical and beauty. One can be classic with minimisation. The minimum woman should go is to look good, decent and presentable.

Some ladies like wearing short skirts but no matter how short the skirt is, it should look elegant. The skirt should not be too short like the mini-skirt.

Dressing or fashion depends on the environment the persons finds herself. The kind of clothes won to the office may be different from the one won at home. Likewise, a dress won to a party may be different from the one won too swimming pool.

For one to look classical or decent, body shape should be taken into consideration.

Colours of a particular fashion can make one look odd or nice. Looking model does not mean that one should go naked or dull.

Don’t wear clothes that you need to drag from time to time in order not to expose yourself.

Eunice Choko-Kayode