The senator representing Adamawa North Senatorial District of Adamawa State, Binta Garba, has said she is not proud of being the only female senator in all the 19 northern states of the country.
Speaking with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in New York, Garba said women should make up 30 per cent of all elective and appointive positions in Nigeria.
She said, “It is rather unfortunate that I am the only female senator from the 19 northern states; it’s not something of pride.
“But if out of 19 states we have at least nine women as senators, it will make our work easier and we would push legislations that affect us health-wise, economically and educationally.
“Also, that will make us have accelerated passage of bills that affect us because we are the mothers; we know and feel the pains.
“And once we have a 30 percent of women in the parliament, it makes the work easier because the men cannot push us anyhow.
“But if you are one out of 57 senators from 19 states, your contributions will be very minimal.”
The 50-year-old blamed the under-representation of females in politics to lack of political will on the part of women.
Garba, who is also chairperson of Senate Committee on Women Affairs, said she believed more women would partake in politics come 2019.
Praising the All Progressives Congress for its proposed twinning system in the party’s yet-to-be-ratified constitution, she said, “Like now in the APC forthcoming convention, they will have to look at the Constitution of the party, in which they are now bringing in the twining system.
“That if a man is a governor, the deputy must be a woman; if a speaker is a man, the deputy must be a woman or if the speaker is a woman, the deputy is a man.”
“But for the first time, a political party has the interest of women to see how women can partner men together, collaborate and move the country forward.
“And once such a constitution is adopted, then definitely you can never have 36 women governors or 36 male governors; their deputies will be opposite sex, even in the parliaments.”
