Former Minister of Education and co-convener of BringBackOurGirls group, Oby Ezekwesili has emphasized the need for women to be represented in all arms of the Government at all levels, in order to minimize corruption.
She stated this at the Maiden Edition of the HID Awolowo Foundation annual lecture, in her keynote address themed ‘Ethical, Politics, Peace, Development and Security in Nigeria: The critical importance of Women’s Leadership,’ held in Lagos.
Ezekwesili said there must be improved participation of women in politics, describing challenges faced by women as cultural, religious, economic, social or self-imposed.
She also noted that with Nigeria in the lead of Countries in Africa, women have had only a marginal role to play, which is made manifest in the poor governance that has ensued, she claims.
“A wise society would know that empowering its women is smart economics”.
According to Ezekwesili, women are incredible human resource that must be put to use, and it is a disservice to Nigerian women not involving them in governance.
“In Africa, only five per cent of women were chief executive officers, 22% of women were cabinet members, 25% were parliamentarians while 29% were Managers”.
Other prominent women in attendance include the former Nigerian envoy to the Netherlands, Olatokunbo Awolowo-Dosumu and the Publisher of Guardian Newspaper, Lady Maiden Ibru, who opined that women have always fought for equality and the time has come for women to come to the forefront and say enough is enough.
“What makes a woman is character, accountability, honesty and these we must bring to governance”, Lady Ibru added.
Former Governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Mimiko, also in attendance, explained that in a family if a woman is empowered, the difference is evident in the house, the children, and the dining table, but if a man is empowered, his pocket increases.
While reiterating the importance of women empowerment for National progress, Mimiko disagreed with Ezekwesili’s assertion;
“I have no doubt about that, although it is not always automatic that a woman is necessarily not more corrupt than a man.
“There is no universal application that a woman is necessarily less corrupt than a man because there are some cultural contexts to it”.
Although in Nigeria, women do not hold a significant percentage of positions, the few that have held positions seem to have been equally divided between corruption indictments or not, just like their male counterpart.
Diezani Alison-Madueke
She is a Nigerian Politician and first female President of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), a feat she achieved in 2014. Before then, she was also the first female Minister of Transportation in Nigeria as of 2007.
In 2008, she was moved to head the Mining and Steel Ministry and in 2010, she became the Minister for Petroleum Resources.
Alison-Madueke was indicted in corruption cases, money laundering and financial misappropriation among others. In August 2017, a Federal High Court seized N7.6 billion ($21 million) from bank accounts linked to Alison-Madueke.
She has also been accused of awarding multi-billion Naira contracts without recourse to due process, as well as wasting billions of dollars inappropriately on private jets.
Presently, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), amended a nine-count charge against Alison-Madueke and two others, for money laundering among others.
Patricia Olubunmi Etteh
She was the Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives from June – October 2007, and is the only woman to have held this position in the Nigerian Government.
In September 2007, she faced a Committee of Member of Parliaments over accusations that she had authorized the spending of N628 million (about US$5 million) on renovation of her official residence and that of her deputy, and the purchase of 12 official cars meant for the House of Representatives.
Following weeks of pressure, she resigned alongside her deputy, Babangida Nguroje. Investigations later revealed that there was no record or proceedings of the House where Etteh was ever indicted.
Etteh represented the Ayedaade/Isokan/Irewole constituency in Osun State. She was initially elected in 1999 as an Alliance for Democracy (AD) member, but switched to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) when running for re-election in 2003. She also decamped to the ruling All Progressive congress (APC) in 2015.
Stella Oduah
She was the former Minister of Aviation in 2011, involved in the purchase of N255 million BMW bulletproof car when she was in the Ministry, which she explains belonged to the Federal Government.
In 2015, she was one of the 109 Senators elected to the 8th Assembly, even as just seven were women. Others are Rose Okoji Oko, Uche Ekwunife, Fatimat Raji Rasaki, Oluremi Tinubu, Biodun Olujimi and Binta Garba.
Senator Oduah, currently represents Anambra North in the House of Senate.
Other women in and around Government, accused of corruption includes: Maimuna Aliyu and the immediate past first lady Patience Jonathan, who is still being investigated by the EFCC.
A N6bn plaza belonging to the former first lady was found in Abuja, and N2.1bn belonging to her late mother was also traced to her, among others. She, however, denied some of the claims, while others are still in Court.
The world has seen a rise in the number of female leaders with no corresponding improving regarding corruption. The World Bank says the countries that have improved are about the same number as the countries that have deteriorated in terms of corruption.
Just like Sri Mulyani Indrawati, who was the first Female Financial Minister in Indonesia dismissed the idea of women being less corrupt as “simplistic”, Helen Clerk, who was Prime Minister of New Zealand for 9 years says there is no proof women are not as corrupt as men in Government.
Lavina Bandhua, who is the head of Transparency International in Sierra Leone also thinks women can be as corrupt as men if given the opportunity.
“Women cheat other women,” Banduah said. “In the marketplace, it is women who are using the dubious means and weighting the scales.”
