March 09, (THEWILL) – To commemorate International Women’s Day (IWD) 2025, the International Press Centre (IPC) and ElectHER have urged the Nigerian government and stakeholders to take decisive action in prioritising the rights, empowerment, and well-being of women and girls.
Inspired by the UN Women’s 2025 theme, “For ALL Women and Girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment”, the organisations called for accelerated efforts to boost women’s representation and dismantle systemic barriers.
With under five years left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the organisations stressed that achieving SDG 5 on gender equality is pivotal, as it has a ripple effect on the other 16 goals and urged action to close gender gaps and boost Nigeria’s performance indicators.
They emphasised that achieving gender parity is crucial for economic stability and prosperity. However, Nigeria lags behind, with women holding only 6 of 34 ministerial positions, 6 deputy governorships, and a mere 3.9% of parliamentary seats as of February 2024.
Nigeria ranks 116th out of 190 countries in UN Women’s 2024 global rankings on women in executive positions, highlighting a critical need for intensified efforts.
In a statement, Lanre Arogundade, Executive Director of IPC, highlighted the media’s role in advancing democratic values and empowering women.
He said, “The media’s influence in shaping gender narratives is undeniable, reinforcing IPC’s commitment to empowering female journalists and supporting female candidates with essential media skills. While progress has been made, achieving these goals requires continued collaboration to ensure women’s active participation in leadership roles.”
Similarly, Ibijoke Faborode, Founder and CEO of ElectHER, emphasised the urgent need for gender-responsive reforms, linking women’s leadership to national development.
“As we mark IWD 2025, ElectHER remains committed to equipping women with the skills, resources, and opportunities needed to thrive in political and leadership positions. The path to gender equity is not just a moral imperative, studies show that nations with greater women’s representation in government experience higher GDP growth, increased investment in social sectors like health and education, and stronger commitments to peace and security”, she noted.
To close the gender gap in Nigeria, IPC and ElectHER proposed the following key actions for government, policymakers and stakeholders, such as the passage of Gender – Responsive bill by prioritising the passage of key legislation to increase women’s representation in politics, including the additional seats bill and independent candidacy bill. Ensure nationwide domestication of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act, securing its full implementation and enforcement in all states to strengthen legal protections for women and girls against violence and discrimination and enforce affirmative action in political leadership by expediting the passage and implementation of the 35% Affirmative bill.
The statement further advocated for Gender-Responsive Budgeting to ensure fair resource allocation and targeted investments to address women’s economic disparities and strengthen economic empowerment programmes to scale up access to credit, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship support for women, particularly in high-growth sectors, to bridge the economic inclusion gap as well as improve Women’s Access to Healthcare by expanding access to affordable reproductive and maternal healthcare, ensuring policies prioritise women’s health and well-being and to strengthen Accountability Mechanisms by establishing robust monitoring and evaluation systems to track progress on gender policies, ensuring measurable impact and accountability in implementation.
Amos Okioma is a Correspondent at THEWILL
