Former Vice President of the World Bank and former Education Minister Dr. Oby Ezekwesili said that male political leaders are responsible for the bad situation in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.
She also absolved the women of all blame, saying they had only a "marginal" role to play in the bad governance that plagued the continent.
She emphasized the need for more women at all levels of government and good representation in all branches of government - executive, legislative and judicial.
Ezekwesili, who was the guest speaker at the first edition of the HID Awolowo Foundation's annual conference in Lagos, said research has shown that in Africa, only 5% of women are general managers, only 22% of women are ministers. 25% are parliamentarians, 29% are executives, while only 36% are promoted.
In the lecture, themed ‘Ethical, politics, peace, development and security in Nigeria: The critical importance of women’s leadership,’ Ezekwesili said it was time Nigerian women disrupted the political process that had acted as a barrier for them to enter into the political space, noting that the barrier ranges from cultural, economic, social, religious to self-imposed barriers.
She said, “For as long as the women are held down, the trend analysis does not show any reversal of outcome. Nobody does any favour to Nigerian women by involving them in governance.
“Women are incredible human resource that we must put to use, and what this says to us is that we need to be more intentional and deliberate.
“Research shows that when many more women are at decision-making level, there is less corruption and a wise society would know that empowering its women is smart economics. The only way to honour the memory of Yeye Oodua is to take it to that next level; disrupt this model, which is no longer sustainable.”
Punch
In the lecture, themed ‘Ethical, politics, peace, development and security in Nigeria: The critical importance of women’s leadership,’ Ezekwesili said it was time Nigerian women disrupted the political process that had acted as a barrier for them to enter into the political space, noting that the barrier ranges from cultural, economic, social, religious to self-imposed barriers.
She said, “For as long as the women are held down, the trend analysis does not show any reversal of outcome. Nobody does any favour to Nigerian women by involving them in governance.
“Women are incredible human resource that we must put to use, and what this says to us is that we need to be more intentional and deliberate.
“Research shows that when many more women are at decision-making level, there is less corruption and a wise society would know that empowering its women is smart economics. The only way to honour the memory of Yeye Oodua is to take it to that next level; disrupt this model, which is no longer sustainable.”
Punch
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