A TIME FOR NIGERIAN WOMEN

With each day that brightens and darkens, the crucial 2027 general elections draw near, bringing Nigeria closer to a critical conference with fate.

For Nigerians, what is perhaps the most unfortunate fixture of their national life is the fact that politics defines everything else, serving as a principal determinant of the direction of life in the country.

These days, everything depends on politics. The economy, security, name it. This would have been no problem were the country’s politics above board or played by people of value. Nigerians would have had no issues with politics conducting every other aspect of their national life like an orchestra were Nigerian politicians not among the worst the world over.

So, as the 2027 general elections gradually take shape on the horizon, shaping everything else around it, many Nigerians are waiting with bated breaths. For Nigerian women, very little, if anything, is predicted to change regarding their place in Nigerian politics and public life.

While there is some unanimity that Nigerian women have been scandalously shortchanged in politics, there has never been any real commitment to improving political participation and representation for women in Nigerian politics.

Every election cycle, suffusive lip service is paid to including women in politics and public life. Suddenly, the critical roles women play in sustaining Nigeria’s democracy are hailed to no end, and promises of allowances and accommodations being made for them flow anew. Pathetically, all these last only for as long as campaigns and elections are on the horizon, which is often not very long.

Many countries around the world have shown up the horrid hypocrisy of the argument that women cannot power governments and countries. In countries like Sweden and Rwanda, women have shown that they can heal systems and countries largely ripped apart by men. In fact, if anything, it is time in Nigeria for women to be given a chance to show what they can do, for as things stand, they are the last demographic that has not been tested by the treacherous waters of Nigeria’s politics.

Now, this is no guess. Since Nigeria’s political class has largely proven itself to be an ageing clan of kleptomaniacs with a few young people who have shown disturbingly sticky fingers, women may hold the secret to solving Nigeria’s leadership conundrum. They may have something up their sleeves that can finally send Nigeria on the long road of recovery as a country.

They should be given the chance. Their nature and priorities can shine a bright light on those Nigeria has long left for dead.

Where men and young people have failed, women may just hold the unique formula for succeeding there.

There is no level playing ground for women and as such this must be intentional. The odds are heavily stacked against them. To make this work, some of the biases that have kept them in the dark all these years must be carefully stripped away.

Ike Willie-Nwobu is a social thinker and policy practitioner