Minister Advocates Reforms to Strengthen Women’s Political Inclusion

Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, has called for far-reaching structural reforms to accelerate women’s political participation across West Africa, unveiling a five-point roadmap aimed at removing barriers to leadership.

The Minister made the call while speaking at the High-Level Women’s Political Leadership Forum convened by ECOWAS, the Nigerian Government, the African Union, the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN) and UNDP in Abuja.

Sulaiman-Ibrahim said women’s political leadership is not just about equity anymore but about national development and democratic effectiveness.

“Women’s political leadership is no longer about fairness to women. For me it’s a matter of competence on the part of nations. This is because a democracy that governs with only half its talent is not just unjust. “It’s underperforming,” she said.

“While women constitute more than half of the population of West Africa, they hold less than 20 per cent of parliamentary seats,” she said, stressing that the challenge is institutional and not a lack of capable women.

“African women are not short of ability. “It has structures that were never built to let them through,” she said.

In Nigeria, women lead 11 of the country’s 24 commercial banks, hold about one-third of superior court positions, and make up more than 30 per cent of senior roles in the Federal Civil Service, but hold less than five per cent of elected offices, the minister said.

When competence is the measure she rises Too many are held back where the cost of entry and structural barriers stand in the way. The candidate is not our problem. “It’s the route,” Sulaiman-Ibrahim explained.

To address this gap, she outlined a five-point road map to advance women’s political leadership across the ECOWAS region.

She suggested the establishment of a “Women’s Political Leadership Trust Fund” to assist in overcoming financial barriers through support for nomination fees, campaign financing and leadership development for credible female candidates.

The minister also urged to turn the current 35 per cent affirmative action benchmark into an enforceable commitment through political party compliance and electoral regulations, taking lessons from Rwanda and Senegal where legally backed reforms have boosted women’s representation in Parliament.

Sulaiman-Ibrahim also recommended the creation of a “ECOWAS Women’s Leadership Compact” to improve collaboration between women in elective and appointive positions and civil society organisations, so advocacy can be converted into legislative and policy outcomes.

Sulaiman-Ibrahim encouraged women in the region to back qualified female candidates during elections, saying unity at the ballot box was a strategic tool to increase representation.

She proposed establishing a “Regional Women’s Leadership Academy” to create a pipeline of future leaders by identifying, mentoring and preparing women from ward and local government levels for elective offices.

The minister said that Nigeria is already doing something on this through the review of the National Gender Policy, implementation of the Third National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security across 16 states and expansion of the Nigeria for Women Programme which targets more than five million beneficiaries to strengthen economic empowerment.

Sulaiman-Ibrahim also underscored the “Power of 10 Million” movement, through which women from all 774 local government areas and 8,809 wards in Nigeria have mobilised and presented a Nigeria Women’s Charter for National Development.

She called on governments and development partners to move beyond dialogue and institutionalise reforms that will deliver measurable progress.

“History is not made by those who get together to talk about change. It is made by those who have the courage to institutionalise it,” she said.