Senator Joy Emordi has lamented the low number of women appointed into President Muhammadu Buhari’s yet-to-be inaugurated cabinet.
The Senate recently concluded the screening of 43 ministerial nominees sent to it by Buhari.
Emordi, who represented Anambra North in the 5th Senate, described the president’s ministerial list as “uninspiring” due to the low number of women.
The Herald can report that only seven out of the nominees are women.
Decrying the situation in an interview published by Sunday Sun, Emordi said, “We (women) cannot be satisfied with the appointment.
“How can we be satisfied with even the number depleting from what we had before; instead of increasing, it is decreasing. And if you look at the total population of Nigeria, I believe that women comprise more than half of the population of Nigeria and aside from that, we have very competent women that will be able to do the job.
“Women that have the capacity and uncommon energy for the assignment, so I don’t see how or why we should get lesser number of appointment when we are already crying that the number we have is not enough. I am not sure we even got up to one percent.
“But one cheering news is that the women that were appointed are honestly very high-quality individuals and qualified for the job, but then that number is not enough.
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“I believe that more women should have been engaged rather what we are given now which appears very embarrassing, given the quality of women we have in the country, given the support women gave to the president and the promise of accommodating more women in government.
“You can see that now we have fewer women in the National Assembly, we have fewer women in the appointive position because in the National Assembly you can say: okay because of the constitutional requirement that you must win the election before getting there, but what of this appointive one?
“Of course, he has released the list and I am not expecting that he creates more ministries, but must then consider the appointment of more women in subsequent appointments.
“Aside from the ministers, there are other appointments that are on the ground so he must use that to consider the appointment of more women.
“This appointment is very uninspiring and I am lost for words because it shouldn’t be so. There should be an increase rather than a decrease in women appointment.
“I think that by now we could have gotten up to, at least 50/50, i.e 50 per cent of the ministerial appointment to go to women, so what we have now is worth condemning.”
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