Strengthening Policy Implementation: A Look at Women’s Political Participation in Decision Making in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper situates itself on Nigerian women and their contributions to the political process of decision making and policy implementation since the beginning of the fourth republic. Drawing from the participation of women in political decision making from the elections of 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015, it is obvious that Nigerian women at all levels are politically active but unfortunately, this does not reflect in the number of women voted into elective offices. The result being that, it falls far below the expected required standard of 30% United Nations benchmark for affirmative action and 35% affirmative action of the National Gender Policy 2006 in Nigeria. With this observation therefore, it is obvious that there are still impediments in the process of women’s participation in politics despite the level of mobilisation from various quarters. This paper intends to ascertain if the absence of women in positions of decision making affects policy formation and implementation and also to find out if women’s political participation in decision making can strengthen policy implementation. This paper relied on secondary data collected from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), for the years under review and concludes that for there to be a strengthened policy making and policy implementation in the Nigerian society, women have to be at the centre of political decision and policy making/implementation process.