Political parties have been advised to adhere to their Constitutions as well as ensure internal democracy, especially with regards to women participation in politics.
Deputy Director in-charge of Civil Society Organisations, CSOs, at the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Gender and Exclusivity Department, Ndidi Okafor, made the call at the ‘He for She’ event for promoting women`s inclusiveness in politics in Abuja.
The event was organised by the Centre for Democracy and Development, CDD, in collaboration with the Government of Canada and the United Nations Women.
She explained that INEC gender policy was to ensure women’s inclusion in politics, as well as maginalised groups and people living with disabilities.
The Deputy Director added that the Commission had been meeting regularly with political parties to charge their leadership to ensure internal party democracy and women inclusion in politics.
A Senior Fellow at the CDD West Africa, who was the guest speaker, Jibril Ibrahim, said men should be the change agents to address inequality, violation and harassment of women.
Also, the UN Women representatives in Nigeria and ECOWAS, Beatrice Eyong, stated that there was need for men to give women more support in terms of providing legislative backing.
