- Ex-President Obasanjo has called for an increase in women participation in politics
- He said female politicians are more reliable than their male counterparts
- The former president, thus, called for more effort to remove barriers to women in attaining higher positions in politics
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Friday, July 20, urged Nigerian women to get more involved in political activities, saying from his experience, female politicians were more trustworthy than their male counterparts.
Obasanjo stated this at a retreat in support of women’s participation in government, political processes and the workplace organized by the Initiative for Information, Arts and Culture Development in Nigeria in conjunction with the American Corner, Ibadan, Daily Trust reports.
NAIJ.com gathered that the former president cited the number of men who were prosecuted for several corrupt cases compared to women, and other factors as evidence of his assertion.
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In the keynote address, Obasanjo said women’s contributions to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) were higher.
“No nation will become great when half of her population ends up only in the kitchen and ‘the other room’, or get disproportionately discriminated against in the higher echelon of corporate management and in governance,” he said.
Obasanjo called for more effort to remove barriers to women in attaining higher positions in politics.
He said: “All hindrances to free and compulsory girl-child education in Nigeria for the first nine years of formal school such as culture, religion and so on should be stopped. Child marriage should be made unlawful, girls must be able to receive formal education from primary to tertiary level. This gathering could not have come at a better time than now when everyone is looking forward to the politics of 2019.”
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Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that Obasanjo accused President Muhammadu Buhari of doing harm to Nigeria and claimed that his administration is confused.
He spoke in Abuja at a summit organised by Prof. Ango Abdullahi where leaders of socio-political groups met to discuss the future of the country.
Obasanjo was represented by Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola who read the former president’s letter addressed to Abdullahi.
Consider rest - Obasanjo to Buhari - On NAIJ.com TV
Source: Naija.ng
