Former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has charged the over 500 women delegates from within the country and the Diaspora at the 2018 WIMBIZ 14th Annual Lecture, to participate fully in Nigerian politics.
Dr Obasanjo gave this charge while delivering a lecture titled: Women, Politics and Nation-Building at Eko Hotel and Suites.
In his lecture, Chief Obasanjo pointed out that women should be involved in nation-building especially as they represent a large part of the Nigerian population (52 per cent).
He noted that 2019 would provide a litmus test for Nigerian women in politics and governance generally and stressed the need for women to take active steps to be involved in Nigeria’s political processes.
“Women must stand up to be counted, it is an insult that resourceful, intelligent, and morally upright women are side-lined into the ghettos of power to perform in almost insignificant positions,” he said.
In her welcome address, Olubunmi Aboderin-Talabi, the current chairperson of WIMBIZ Executive Council spoke on the urgent need for more women to get involved in the Nigerian political space.
Aboderin-Talabi, who lamented the dearth of women in Nigerian politics, posited that more women needed to get involved in the leadership of Nigeria.
Women in Management, Business and Public Service, WIMBIZ, is a non-profit organisation formed in 2001 by 14 individuals, to be a voice for women in careers and business.
Going down memory lane, over the last 16 years, WIMBIZ has implemented programmes that seek to inspire, empower and advocate for greater representation of women in leadership positions both in public and private sectors.
A process-driven gender empowerment organisation in West Africa, WIMBIZ has a contributory associate pool of over 500 accomplished women in management, business and public service with over 5,000 women on its database. WIMBIZ collaborates with credible global organisations to deliver programmes which have influenced over 87,000 women since inception.
Their vision is to be the catalyst that elevates the status and influence of women and their contribution to nation-building and the mission is to inspire and empower women to attain leadership positions in business, management, and public service.