With female SSG, ADC, head of civil service; is Yahaya Bello the most women-friendly governor? »

There has been an age-long debate on better inclusion of women in politics and leadership positions. The situation in Nigeria is not a very impressive example on encouraging female participation as many top positions are occupied by men.

Figures from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), as of October 2020, place Nigeria very low on female representation in politics — the country ranks 185 out of 193 countries on percentage of women in national parliaments.

However, things are quite different from the ‘usual’ in Kogi under the administration of Yahaya Bello, the governor, who is promoting female inclusion in politics and other leadership positions.

In 2016, Bello made history when he appointed Petra Akinti Onyegbule as the first-ever female chief press secretary of the state — she was also the second ever female CPS in Nigeria as of the time she took office.

ALL 21 LGA VICE CHAIRPERSONS ARE WOMEN

In November, Edward Onoja, deputy governor of Kogi, hinted that the vice-chairperson position of the legislative seats at the 21 local government (LG) councils in the state would be taken by women if the All Progressives Congress (APC) emerges victorious in the December 12 LG election in the state.

“We have several chairs of boards as women and just recently, our party, the All Progressives Congress is lining up 21 women as vice chairperson candidates for the 21 local governments in Kogi state. We believe when we are victorious in the electoral poll coming up on December 12, 2020, the legislative leadership at 21 local government councils will be manned by women,” he said.

On Monday, two days after the polls, Bello swore in elected LG council chairmen and 21 vice-chairpersons — all of them were women.

FIRST FEMALE ADC TO A GOVERNOR IN NIGERIA

For the first time in the history of Nigeria, a female officer has been appointed as aide-de-camp (ADC) to a governor. This development is credited to Bello, following the deployment of Ifeoma Akaya to serve as his ADC.

Ifeoma, daughter of Charles Akaya, a former commissioner of police, is a lawyer and an assistant superintendent of police.

She was appointed following the transfer of Usman Shugaba, who is currently serving as ADC to Aisha Buhari, wife of the president.

WOMEN SERVING AS SSG, HEAD OF SERVICE, COUNCILLORS

In August 2017, Folashade Ayoade, the secretary to the state government (SSG), announced the appointment of Hasana Lawal as head of service in Kogi — Lawal retired from the position less than one week after, but Deborah Ogunmola, another woman, was announced as the head of service.

Also, at the local government election on December 12 where APC won in the 21 local government areas in the state, as well as all the councillor seats of the 239 wards, it is said that more than 20 councillors are females.

In a statement issued on December 6 to appeal to youths to shelve plans for another #EndSARS protest, Bello said his decision to promote women inclusion in politics should encourage young people to be more interested in governance.

“Pressure groups take political power when their pressure has built up to the point they can no longer be refused or ignored,” the governor said.

“My administration has recently capitulated to the growing power and participation of women in our state politics by ceding all the 21 deputy chairmanship positions in all of our local government councils to them along with the 21 council speakership positions. Nothing stops #EndSARS from achieving similar accommodation with our political parties.”

By Haleem Olatunji