 Women denounce poor political representation and tonight we spotlight the level of political participation of women in the incoming administration come May 29. And the People's Democratic Party Governors Forum are to honour Governor Wike, Governor Mckinley, Autumn and Davos. This is Plus Politics and I am Mary Ann O'Call. Leaders and other experts have said that women's political participation in Nigeria is below global standards. Almost half of Nigeria's estimated 200 million people are women. But gender balance is far from a reality in Nigeria's political landscape. 47% of Nigeria's 84 million voters are women. Now with May 29 drawing close and all the eyes on the president-elect, will women be prioritised in the next administration? Joining us to discuss this is APC's national women leader, Dr. Beta Edu. It's good to have you join us. Good evening, doctor. Thank you for having me. Great. It's very important that we have these statistics because normally we talk about the fact that women are supposed to lead, women are supposed to be the organisers, the ones who galvanise support. But when it comes to their proper representation and giving them some sort of equity, we hardly see that. But is this something that we can say the APC has done? Especially for you. I mean, I know you. You've been in the forefront of all of the campaigning. It was surprising how much, you know, how young, you know, for the first time APC is having such a young woman leader. And I think it's generally across the board because I do not know if any big political party in this country has had a young, you know, woman leader before you. It's a pace setting, you know, standard. How well will we see the APC use this pace that they've set come May 29? Well, first thank you for having me on this evening. Basically, like you stated clearly in your introduction that women have very, very ridiculously low representation in politics today across board, whether it's at the state level or at the national assembly level where we have under 20 women presently in the national assembly. And no matter how much more we push, we might not be able to get up to 20 for this present assembly, which is very, very sad in spite of all the work that was done. Going into May 29, we are very, very confident that the incoming president, Asiwa Jibola-Armetinibo, who has been a promoter of women in politics, is going to give women over 35 percent. I've had several discussions with him on women inclusion in governance, politics and leadership. And it's been very clear to say even a 35 percent is an understatement for the amount of work women do, for the value they bring to the table. And so we are praying and hoping very strongly to see a different picture where we'll have over 35 percent of his administration, both at the federal executive council, to the boards for status MDAs and indeed even the very, very little things like employment and civil service will have at least 35 percent of it going to the women's folk. Remember Asiwa Jibola-Armetinibo has a very, very strong track record as it concerns empowering women. He started the twinning of a governor running with a woman as a deputy in this democratic time and of course it has become enormous Nigeria that today our party has at least three women as deputy governors on the ticket. So these are all things that you can point to that and say, yes, Asiwa Jibola-Armetinibo would indeed give women that power and put us at the front burner. Talking about prioritizing women, just like I said in the opening, it's the first time having a young person like you hold this position. But the APC has over time been criticized for low representation when it comes to women in past administrations. Now let's talk about measures that will be put in place to ensure this because also their interests, whether we like it or not. Yes, the president is one man, but then of course he represents the party. The party obviously had given him the platform to run for this position. How do you make sure that you put measures in place to prioritize women's position and not just any kind of position just for the case of giving women a position, but prominent positions? So first to the glory of God, APC was able to take a very bold step to give their national woman leader to vote. The national woman leader as a young person in her mid-30s. Basically from history and from the records, obviously the youngest in the history of any political party in Africa and which for us was very significant in APC. But moving away from that, a lot was done by the party to be able to really, really, really put women at the front burner. Unfortunately, the dynamics that played out during the elections through a lot of women of God because I want to say from my own point of view that they were not expecting what they saw in the last elections. Of course we had a situation where APC did a constitutional review to say women must be involved as delegates. So out of every five delegates, two must be women out of every three at the national level. One must be a woman that way women can have more numbers to vote for other women and get proper women representation. We went ahead to provide free forms for women in the last election and we had over almost 500 women pick up our forms at different levels, both at the House of Assembly and at the level of the Senate and reps to run for the last election. We were able to still get at least 95 women on the ballot as candidates for that election. This far cry from what has always been when we used to have 20, 30 at most women running on the platform of APC. But with all of this that went on the ground to see that we have better, more women representation, the dynamics of the entire elections changed. And you saw how keenly contested it was and you saw new parties emerge in the whole scene. And at the end of the day, we could not produce as many as 95 women that we gave our tickets as candidates on our party platform, which was really very sad. At the National Assembly, we've basically been able to do about 10. And then of course at the State House of Assembly, we have a little more than that. So these for us are very disturbing figures. But going forward, we want to ensure as a party that we can get all our stakeholders to come to the board of the 35% of a native action for women, where we can have more women as councilors, more women as chairman of councils, more women as vice-chairmen of councils. That's the grassroots point where politics truly begin. And then they can build up from there to get into the State House of Assemblies and the National Assembly in the next four years. Also, we hope to financially empower more women through different programs and mediums, giving them appointments across board so that they're exposed to leadership, they're exposed to policies, they're exposed to governance. And when they come to run for election, they have a true feel of what it takes to lead. So we're counting on Aswajubola Amethinibu, the president-elect, to be able to do this. We're also counting on the 10th assembly. And that's why we are very passionate about who takes the leadership of the 10th assembly. We're counting on the 10th assembly to be able to pass the gender bills that will really empower women to go out and run and take those political positions. And finally, we hope that more women will be financially empowered and properly prepared for the next election, so that no matter what the dynamics is, you still emerge as a winner after being given the ticket as a candidate of our party. I hear you say that you were sad at the number of women who held positions or got tickets at the end of the day, that it was abysmally low. And then you're saying that you also are hoping that going forward things would change. And I'm curious, if at the party level, this was Trumped, why are we supposed to hold our hope that some magic would happen and that the Boys Club is going to let up, especially when it comes to the juicy positions? Why should we be holding our hope within the party there was no democracy for the women? No, there was. Like I said, there was a constitutional review within the party that gave women more representation. Before now, we didn't have women as delegates. It was basically almost all a men affair. But composed really, the party has said two out of five, one out of three must be a woman. Beyond this, of course, like I told you, the party for the first time was able to give about 95 women a platform to run the elections. Before now, we used to be about 10 into cases 15. At best, our best shot has been about 31 so far. Now we went 200 percent above that and even more to give 95 women a ticket to run on the platform of our party. But like I said, a lot of dynamics played out during this particular season. We had new actors coming into the scene that completely put the women who were given our tickets of their guard. And at the end of the day, we could not produce the number we were hoping to produce. So we from the party have done some groundwork would only improve on it as we go into the local government and the state elections. Let's talk about what's happening on the floor of the National Assembly recently. And now some persons were nominated by the National Working Committee of your party. And they were given, you know, nominated apparently for some leadership positions on the floor of the National Assembly. There are concerns about the fact that there's lack of female representation in all of these positions. Again, what are your thoughts on this? So well, that was expected in the Senate. I'm sure you know we have only one woman from APC in the Senate. So having just one woman is going to be difficult to get her into the apexed position in the House. Bearing in mind the fact that you can get all of the men to support her. And then the most important part was the fact that she's a first-timer and Senate have their rules that as a first-timer, you cannot run for certain presiding officers position in the Senate and of course in the lower house. So we have situations where we had women coming in as first-timers. Of course, the Mrs. Adebule, her Excellency Adebule who is representing Lagos, one of the Central District in Lagos State. She's the only woman on our party ticket that is in the Senate. The other two women, one is from PDP and the other is from LP. And so she and all of them are all first-timers and so they're not going to be able to contest following the House rules. However, we're hoping to build on this to say by the time they're coming back for a second term and more women are voted into the Senate and into the House of Rebs, then we stand a better chance to bring up women that to run for the presiding officer's position in the Senate and the Rebs. Let's move away from politics and bring it down to the people where, of course, after May 29, your President-elect, of course, will now have to deal with us. Looking at the concerns about gender gap in education and employment opportunities in Nigeria, what policies would be the APC putting in place to address some of these issues? As we speak, the level of unemployment, youth unemployment in Nigeria has more than doubled. So the APC does have its work cut out for it. So what do you propose will be the policies that will be put in place? First, we are grateful to God and to Nigerians that the best man for the job is going to be sworn in as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to be precise, the 16th President as Asuadju Bola-Armetinibu. Asuadju Bola-Armetinibu is a man with experience, a man who has the heart to make those changes because you need a heart of a lion to actually bring the right change in this country and is a man that has that heart, that audacity to bring about the change that Nigerians look forward to a very positive, prosperous nation where everyone can go about their own lives and pursue their dreams to the Senate and that's what Asuadju Bola-Armetinibu is bringing to the table. If you looked at his action plan working with his deputies, Vice Senator Kashim Shettyman who has a very great track record too in Bronu, you will see that they have clearly stated how they want to get people into jobs using all the sectors. Even I can give you an example. The health sector will be pulling in a lot of people into jobs. Remember that as we speak right now the NHS in the UK of course is the fifth highest employer of labour in the entire world. So health sector can equally bring in a lot of employment for Nigerians across but even people who are not health workers have a role to play in the entire health system. Of course several other employment strategies which he clearly stated out in his action plan for the young people he has stated from the level of their education supporting them through student loans, providing grants for them and of course startup hubs all across the nation, innovative hubs just the way it is in China and other developed countries that have helped young people express themselves and be able to make huge money for themselves just through technology and innovation. And so Ajib Al-Imetinibu wants to go full flesh into this. Of course he stated very clearly in his manifesto or I'll call it an action plan as he stated that in all of his program we will have the gender sensitive aspect of it where women and the vulnerable will be carefully taken care of so women can always be sure of that. I'll give you an example. When he was the governor of Lagos State of course you know very well that he was a fresh to a point of female as the head of the judiciary in Lagos. Beyond this in the civil service he employed over 50% as women into civil service employment and then today the resultant effect is the fact that most of the permanent secretaries in Lagos are females and so you can see that transition you can see that foundation where he's coming from. He worked on the economy of Lagos, he worked on security he did a lot of work at the grassroots in Bronu. We had a senator Kashim Shetima that did so much work coming from an insurgents and trying to rebuild Bronu State. Having these two men on the saddle of affairs in Nigeria we can only but hope for the very very best and we'll positive that Nigerians will indeed be most grateful for this decision and in the next four years they will be the one appealing to them to run for a second term. Interesting how you've sort of lined up some of the things that you say that the president-elect wants to do but I just want to go through a few things that were in his manifesto and some that you know I think I want to talk about. He talked about the fact that he's going to export more import less he's going to strengthen both the Naira and our way of life he's talked about manufacturing, creating and inventing more goods and services that we require and Nigeria will be known as a nation of creators not just consumers. So I want to start my first question is obviously how does he intend to do this because we know that we have refineries that are not working but being serviced. We have manufacturing companies and plants. Let's take for example the Adyakutas Steel Company is moribund. As we speak our debt profile has skyrocketed. So I'm curious where is it going to get the money because the APC has been in power for the past eight years and they were unable to figure out how to get these things up and running. What does Asiwa do have outside of the APC and all of that the Bahrain administration has not been able to accomplish? Again like I always say leadership is about the leader first. The audacity to do, the audacity to change thinking and doing like you would always tell you thinkers and doers are what would get the job done. Right, Asiwa Jibola Metinibu is one who has in time past had nest both international and local resources as well as expertise and partnerships to be able to break economic barriers. As we speak today, Lagos State is the fifth largest economy in Africa even larger than the economy of Nigeria but as a whole you can clearly see that it was from a plan a clear plan by one who had a vision and was able to go all out to implement this vision in Lagos State. Asiwa Jibola Metinibu has been very clear with the fact that Nigeria has been very dependent on imported goods from all over the world. In fact at some point Nigeria has basically been said I've seen articles where we are called the dumping ground so when you have anything you have to sell or you want to push into Africa the largest market of course in Africa is Nigeria so you just go dump it there including drugs, vaccines, food commodities, name it. He wants to build more on industrialization putting this raw materials, the raw materials we have in our country processing them to the final products where we can export them and make a lot of GDP from that and this will be plunged back into several other aspects like healthcare, education, name it to help boost our economy and bring that human capital to its height. For me I'm very very sure that if he can pick a Lagos from 50 million Naira revenue in a month ensure that he had partnerships to bring in all the industrialization in Lagos where they get huge amounts from taxes and of course even going as far as reclaiming an Atlantic Ocean just to create another city called the Atlantic City and Asiwa Jambola Mettinibu would do the same for Nigeria as a country and make us that economic envy of Africa and indeed the world. Let's come back to your constituency riches women apparently the sustainable development goals has called for gender equality and women's empowerment generally. How do you see the APC government aligning with this agenda and dealing with issues that affect women in different parts of Nigeria especially when we talk about traditional and religious issues that have somewhat kept women in a very tight spot and not allowing them to flourish? I think the very first thing which Asiwa Jambola Mettinibu has promised to do working together with the tent assembly is to ensure that we have the right legislation on the table to back up all of the reforms and policies that the gender the female gender would be benefiting from. I think starting on that note would be one of the strongest standpoint for this administration. Indeed women have been changed indeed politics, the culture and different parts of the country of course religious barriers, financial barriers stereotyping, a whole lot is going on to put women at the back burner and it's so easy to use one woman to judge millions of other women and shut the door against other women just because a woman makes a mistake but every other day men make mistakes and they go scout free from it and other men are not judged by the mistake of one man just that man is judged by his own mistake all of these things are things that we need to critically address as an administration, as a party, APC and as a country in Nigeria the men need to understand that we are partners in development we are not competitors, we are not competing for space we are partners, women bring a lot to the table and they must encourage us and work with us to achieve more. As well as Jambola Mettinibu has that at the back of his mind, his wife Senator Lura Mettinibu who herself has been a gender advocate even from the days as being a wife of a governor in Lagos and to a senator a three-time senator in the Senate she has passed several bills on gender and these were coming to play in her role as the first lady of this country we are hopeful that with this power-packed team on board come 29th of May Nigerians and indeed Nigerian women will smile again How do you plan to work with other women and women leaders in different organizations and also across party lines to advocate for gender equality in government and society at large? So the gender issue is beyond any party and of course we have uniting or common fronts like the UN women we have order NGOs, CSOs, CBOs that are all entrusted in this gender mainstreaming and so we are going to harness all of these people put them together and see how best we can work from the party angles across party lines to empower women and mainstream women but most importantly like I said it should not be left at the discretion of who the leader is we need laws to back this up so whether the person after Suadjubola and Metinibu like women or not whether he feels religiously constrained to empower women or not whether he feels culturally constrained to empower women or not the law seeks so and you need to be able to abide by the law as a citizen of Nigeria first and most others you need to abide by the law so we really really need that legislation and all women across party lines all the NGOs indeed CBOs and the rest of them civil society organizations need to come out with one voice to demand for laws that protect our rights as women and empower us giving us that gender mainstreaming that we so seek. Again what's your advice for young women who aspire into positions of leadership especially government and politics because this is the main focus of this conversation today as much as we're talking about the President-elect here we're also talking about strategies that can help women break the glass ceiling and get to positions where men already have been over time so how do you intend to do that because of course I'm guessing that there are lots of young women who look up to you so we do a lot of mentorship at the level of the party we have the young women that have been mentored through different forums, different engagements strategically and then of course even from other wings young women have been mentored but like I always tell young women the time is now and it's time for us to rise up with one voice and go for what we seek my biggest and strongest advice to young women stay focused and stay consistent you come in today you jump out tomorrow your here next tomorrow your there next tomorrow but you want to ensure that you have a goal which should be very impactful on the entire population ensure that you're giving value ensure that you bring so much to the table no one will resist value no one will resist a right change a positive change right so ensure that you have the capacity and you're bringing value to the table decide what it is you want to achieve for yourself for your community and indeed for Nigeria as a nation focus on it stay consistent work hard at it don't get stereotyped don't get pushed to the backbone because this one says so this one says this they're going to come at you calling you all sorts of names they're going to say all how wayward you are how these out that they're going to be judgmental they're going to use all sorts of things to keep you at the backbone they'll bring the religious card they'll play the cultural card they'll give you a woman character they'll even make you see yourself as being less qualified to be anything that you want to be remember that other women will even come at you as a woman rather than coming to meet you and sort it out whatever it is they feel they have with you they will come attacking you they'll talk you down they'll try to put you at the backbone but as a young woman stay focused determine what you want hook onto God and then work hard at it nothing beats diligence hard work and focus with consistency remember even the holy book says that showed me a man who is diligent in his ways he will not stand before mean men he will stand before kings so this is my advice for young people work hard, stay focused build your capacity and the sky is your limit nobody has the right to question your dreams nobody has the right to place a limit on you nobody has the right to put a cap on you when you alone can only place that limit on yourself that's what I do is the national woman leader for the All Progressive Congress APC thank you so much for speaking with us we appreciate it you're welcome thank you for having me all right up next the People's Democratic Party the Governors Forum has listed Governors Yes and Weaken other Governors as those they will be honouring as outgoing Governors stay with us we'll be right back