Affirmative political action in Nigeria?
In Naijablog, Jeremy Weate points out a provocative proposal by Max Siollun in his blog, Nigerian Village Square. Some form of this action is common in other countries.Should The Presidency Be Zoned To Women?
Ever since former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua fell ill last year, the word “zoning” has been on everyone’s lips. The talk has been of whether the ruling Peoples Democratic Party’s “zoning” arrangement would be applied to permit the emergence of a new President from the south, the north, the east, the south-south etc etc. Throughout all debate about zoning, no one considered the prospect of zoning the presidency to……..WOMEN…
Previous attempts at making women more prominent in Nigerian politics have failed miserably…
Can the ladies do any worse than the men? Let’s look at what 50 years of uninterrupted rule by men has brought Nigeria: civil war, one million dead bodies in the space of 3 years, systematized corruption, destruction of national morals, ostentatious living, and decadence that would make the ancient Romans blush.
Yet ironically, many of the best performing ministers of recent times have been women. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Obiageli Ezekwesili, Dora Akunyili, and Dizeani Allison-Madueke have all performed admirably as ministers…
Another irony is that women make up a very substantial part of the voting electorate (in rural areas). Old women are known to vote regularly. Yet we refuse to empower a part of the national demographic that votes heavily and which has performed very well in government…
So for next year’s election, let us not zone the presidency to the south, north, east, west, north-central, south-east, north-west, south-south, north-east, south-west, or any other place that a GPS device can find.
Let us zone it to NIGERIAN WOMEN. It won’t hurt.
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Labels: gender, Nigeria, politics, women
posted by Ken Wedding @ 6:41 AM
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