Only Female President Can Wipe Out Tears from Nigerians, Says Prof Nwaorgu
NIGERIA'S COAT OF ARMS
A fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science, Emeritus Professor Obioma Nwaorgu, has said that the only way the Nigerian government and the citizens can sufficiently appreciate the contributions of women to national development since independence in 1960 was to elect a woman as President.
Nwaorgu, a professor of parasitology and epidemiology of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka Anambra State, maintained that she has a firm belief that a female president would wipe away tears on the faces of Nigerians, stressing that Nigeria has too many women in the East, South and North who can perform the role creditably saying “leadership yields more dividends when shared”.
Speaking at an event organized by the Enugu State Government to mark the 2021 International Women’s Day in Enugu recently, the university don regretted that despite the numerical strength of women, they are still grossly underrepresented in key leadership positions in the country.
She recalled that the result of the 2019 state and national assembly elections showed that in Enugu State for example, there are only three women as against 21 men in the state assembly, while 10 women were elected into the house of representatives with a total 360 members and 6 women into the senate with 109 members and down the line to ministerial positions and governors.
According to her, “this has resulted to unequal power relationship between women and men, social norm decrease, education and paid employment opportunity for women.”
The theme for this year’s celebration is women in leadership, achieving an equal future in a covid-19 world.
Although Prof Nworgu, projected that at the current slow pace of progress by women, it could take them up to 2150, about 130 years to arrive at the destination point and achieve the desired glory against the back drop of lack of access to finance, online hate, violence, discriminationary norms and exclusionary policies that make progress through the ranks even more difficult.
She stated that despite all odds, women persist and continue to prove that when they lead, they bring tranformational changes to entire communities and the world at large, adding that women leadership role especially in the covid 19 pandemic is clear.
Prof. Obioma Nwaorgu, a graduate of the University of Cambridge England, said that women and girls who are at the forefront of the battle against covid-19 as frontline and health sector workers as doctors, scientists and caregivers should be encouraged so that they can do more for society.
She continued: this is why this year’s international women’s day is a rallying cry for generation equality and gender mainstreaming.
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