Women want half of commissionership slots in Ogun

Women in Ogun State, yesterday, demanded 50 per cent commissionership slots in Governor Dapo Abiodun’s cabinet.

The convener of Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre ( WARDC), Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, who led women in a peaceful demonstration to the governor’s office and the State House of Assembly at Oke Mosan, described women representation in the country as “appalling.”

Akiyode-Afolabi expressed concern that so far, the ministerial appointments made by President Muhammadu Buhari, as well as some governors who had appointed commissioners had fallen short of 35 percent affirmative action in favour of women.

She hinted that the demonstration was a proactive step towards ensuring women got “nothing less than 50 per cent slots in the governor’s yet-to-be-constituted cabinet.”

“Anything less than 50 per cent, we won’t accept. The minimum we can take is 35 per cent, but it should be as high as 50 and 70.

“We are saying that in Ogun State we have more than enough, capable, qualified and technocrats among women to be appointed into the cabinet. In actual sense, the state has a history of leading women, from Fumilayo Ransome-Kuti to Kudirat Abiola and so many others. But we don’t want to be taken by surprise.

“It’s a warning protest because we will not allow the assembly to go ahead with any nomination that is non-inclusive,” Akiyode-Afolabi said.

The Deputy Governor, Mrs. Noimot Salako-Oyedele, who addressed the protesters at the governor’s office, reassured them of Governor Abiodun’s commitment to “inclusive and qualitative governance.”

Salako-Oyedele, who was flanked by the Secretary to the State Government, Tokunbo Talabi, said “There is more to just numerical representation. We are not talking about tokenism; we are talking about having women with impactful representation. I will tell you that the governor is very committed to having women in impactful positions.”