The Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN), kogi state chapter has promised to work with the Renaissance Care and Empowerment Foundation, (RECEF), to encourage women to participate fully in the 2023 general elections.
The CAN chairman in the state, Senior Apostle Adebayo Emmanuel, stated this in his office on Thursday when RECEF team paid him an advocacy visit in his office in Felele community, Lokoja the kogi state capital, to sensitize CAN about it’s project tagged ‘Women Participation in Elections as Voice for Development (V4D) project in kogi state.
The CAN chairman who regretted that women are always relegated to the background, while those who ventured into politics are called all manner of names, saying women should not be discourage but should continue to make their voices heard by participating actively in political activities.
He advised the women folk to strive for the attainment of the 30% affirmative action by going into elective offices, so as to ensure that they are not left out in the decision making processes.
The religious leader commended the Kogi state Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello for ensuring that women are well represented in his government and encouraged other governors to emulate him.
He however noted that for women to take active part in politics, there is the urgent need to reduce all forms of violence against them in elections.
The Senior Apostle, encouraged RECEF to put in more effort in the campaign to ensure the realization of the objective of the project, saying that having more women participating in politics will do the country a lot of good, adding that women appeared to have more fear of God when they are in positions of authority.
He assured that CAN will partner fully with RECEF by encouraging Christian women to take active part in the next elections.
Speaking earlier, the Executive Director of RECEF, Ambassador Idris Ozovehe Muraina, noted that the campaign became necessary because of the decline in women investment in the electioneering processes in recent time.
He maintain that the V4D project is designed to galvanized relevant stakeholders to work towards encouraging women to participate in elections, so as to make their voices heard in the decision making processes.
RECEF is a non governmental, not for profit making, non religious and non partisan registered organization, established to improve the welfare of the people in the areas of legislative advocacy, health, education, vocational training, women empowerment and conflict resolution with focus on children, women, youths and other vulnerable groups.
The project is supported with funding from the Government of Ireland