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Gbajabiamila drums up support for women in politics, advocates special fund
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, on Saturday threw his weight behind increased participation of women in politics, calling for a special fund that will sponsor them for elections.
The Speaker also insisted that with candidates with good ideas, funding and organisation, more Nigerian women will get elected into public offices.
Gbajabiamila stated this in his keynote address at a WIMPOL Dialogue organised by the Women in Management, Business and Public Service on Saturday in Abuja.
According to him, the 9th House had made gender equality a cardinal point in its legislative agenda, adding that he would personally champion the cause of women in the lower chamber of the National Assembly, including spearheading constitutional amendments.
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The Speaker, who encouraged women to register and belong to political parties, and participate fully for their voices to be heard, promised to recommend to the National Executive Committee of the ruling All Progressives Congress, the creation of a special fund for women to sponsor their political activities.
He added that as a politician, he believed that Nigerian women could also engage in more advocacy, lobby and peaceful protests, among others, to drive home their point to get into more elective positions.
He said: “My participation in politics is a legacy of my mother and I owe my achievements in this arena to her. Now, I am a father of daughters for whom I hold the highest ambitions. At the end of my career in politics, it is my hope that I would have contributed constructively to the achievement of a society where my daughters and all our daughters can live up to their highest aspirations, freed from discrimination on the basis of their gender and protected from the worst consequences of our patriarchal society.”
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