''The present arrangement of male domination in leadership is not working. Nigeria is a blessed nation filled with great potential and tribes made up
”The present arrangement of male domination in leadership is not working. Nigeria is a blessed nation filled with great potential and tribes made up of men, women, and children, but unfortunately, the women are not heard. They have been relegated to the background or the other room. We have just a few women courageous enough to fight for political positions with the men.”
These are some of the words of Apostle Dr. Eunice Orji, a pastor with De Masters House Ministry, Lagos, co-host of a radio program, Marriage & Relationship Matters and coordinator of Women-Embrace Change, an Outreach for women.
* Lagos contingent to the Meet The Church Summit in Abuja with the National Excos of NNCC.
In her speech titled THE RISE OF WOMEN IN NATION BUILDING, delivered at the Meet the Church Summit organised by the Nigeria National Christian Coalition on Tuesday, 2oth September, at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, Nigeria, Apostle Eunice Orji said Nigerians are all aware of the state of the nation. ‘We have gone from being the giant of Africa to being the slaves of the world.
‘Countries are rejecting our citizens roaming worldwide, seeking better lives for themselves and their families. The present arrangement of male domination in leadership is not working.
She added that ‘it is time for us women to rise and come out from the other room into both informal and formal leadership. It is time to participate and use the potential embedded in us to bring our nation out of comatose.
‘Women can make a lot of difference in our nation Nigeria. Being the bedrock of the home, our women are capable and can handle any political position or handle the affairs of the country even better than what we have now. This is because women are loyal, faithful, dedicated and determined. They are not prone to corruption. Nigeria has very intelligent women whose abilities are not harnessed.
Eunice Orji mentioned the likes of late Mrs Dora Akunyili, a Director General of the National Agency of Food and Drug Administration and Control and Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former Finance Minister, who accomplished a lot in their assigned offices as shining examples of women who broke limits.
Going back in history, Orji cited the “Aba Women’s Riots of 1929”, where women-led protests in the provinces of Calabar and Owerri in southeastern Nigeria. The women, according to her, fought for their rights. Thousands of Igbo women organized a massive revolt against the policies imposed by British colonial administrators in southeastern Nigeria. She also cited Mrs Funmilayo Ransome Kuti, a women’s rights activist and a political leader during her time.
‘The bible in Judges 4 and 5 recorded the story of Deborah, a prophet, a judge and a heroine in the Old Testament. She inspired the Israelites to mighty victories over their enemies. We can see that women have been found in government/leadership dating back to the Bible era. Women have participated in bringing sanity to their nations.
‘England was ruled by a monarch, a woman, for over 70 years. Queen Elizabeth II, who just passed on, held the country together for 70 years. She was a wife and a mother too.
Orji then posed the question:
Why are women in this generation complacent?
According to her, women are blessed by God and have great potentials to guide, nurture and rule. Without the woman, there is no home, country or nation. They are not only meant to marry, have children and end up in the kitchen. It is said that behind every King is a woman. Let us move from behind to the front. The women of Rwanda have shown that they can be fully involved in nation-building.
‘After the genocide that claimed the lives of most Rwandan men in 1994, where churches, schools, and infrastructures were destroyed; offices and businesses looted and governance minimal, and almost a million Rwandan people were killed, the population became dominated by women.
‘They were faced with ensuring the survival of their families. They took in orphaned children and organized support groups for widows. They moved from the role of wives and mothers to reconstructing their nation. They farmed and started doing business. They helped to sustain economic growth and helped to create stability in Rwanda.
They joined politics and led Rwanda’s recovery. They served as national directors and judges and held seats in the commission tasked with drafting the Rwandan new constitution.
This led to 86 per cent of Rwandan women being active in the national labour market. They also held 55 per cent of government cabinet positions and 61.3 per cent of seats in their country’s parliament. Rwanda became the first country in the world with a female majority in parliament.
The women of Rwanda played critical roles in Gacaca (pronounced gah-CHA-cha), a kind of truth and reconciliation process that operated mainly at the community level. Rwanda has the highest rate of female labour force participation, not only in Africa but the world.
They held three of the twelve seats of the commission tasked with drafting a new constitution for Rwanda. Among these women is Judith Kanakuze.
‘Rwandan women’s accomplishments, in a nutshell, include: initiating reconciliation efforts, participating in drafting a new constitution, exercising influence in decentralization policies and forming a cross-party caucus in parliament to continue to work on security issues.
‘Other accomplishments were they helped in Influencing and Formulation Policies, advanced Reconciliation, i.e. the National Unity reconciliation Commission Gacaca, drafting the Constitution, strengthen Parliament. If Rwandan women could reconstruct their country as they did, I believe Nigerian women can do much more.
Orji lamented that presently in Nigeria, we do not have enough women in positions of leadership where discussion and decisions on nation-building are brought to the table. So Nigerian women have no voice. They have very few women in the legislative arms and little or no political participation.
She added that there is an urgent need to focus on creating legal and social conditions where women and men have equal rights in politics and leadership. Improving gender equality will help increase economic growth, reduce poverty, enhance societal well-being, and help to ensure sustainable development.
EXHORTATION
* Lagos contingent to Meet the Church Summit in Abuja.
Dr Eunice Orji exhorts women in Nigeria to work to extend political freedom and economic opportunities for women. ‘We face political and economic inequality and have allowed a combination of sexism and economic inequality to deter us.
‘The few women we have in politics are trying, but the present leadership arrangement does not give them enough opportunity to participate.
‘It is time for women at home and abroad to arise and take back our country, which is presently in shambles. We have no other country but this one. Let us arise and restore Nigeria to her position as the Giant of Africa, if not of the world. We can do it!
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