During his campaign, Muhammadu Buhari promised to implement the National Gender Policy, which allocates 35% of appointive positions to women. Specifically, ‘Objective 5’ states the special measures, quotas, and mechanisms for achieving a minimum threshold of women in political offices, party organs, and public life. However, when the initial list of ministerial nominees was announced, it featured a mere three women from a total of 20 appointees. These were: Amina Mohammed, former Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on the Millennium Development Goals; Aisha Alhassan, retired Chief Registrar of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory and former elected Senator for the Taraba North constituency; and Kemi Adeosun, who made her name in the finance sector before being appointed as the Finance Commissioner in Ogun State in 2011.
In light of this disappointment, Ventures Africa asks ‘Does President Buhari have a gender problem?’. In this short podcast, Nigerian women discuss the evidence for Buhari’s willingness to promote fair representation for women in his administration, and their hopes and fears for future appointments. The lack of accountability facing Buhari with regard to his campaign promises is noted, as is the implication that the public themselves will have to take on that role. The presenters explore whether the women already appointed show Buhari trusts women to a degree, but conclude that only a large majority of women being nominated in the remaining 16 posts would alleviate the negative bias shown by Buhari thus far.