Political campaigns in Nigeria not yet issue-based, says Anaja

Charity Anaja is a human capacity builder and developer, she is also a member of the Women in politics Forum (WIPF). In this interview with ENE OSANG, the Political Science graduate, who is currently running a Masters programme on Peace and Conflict Resolution, spoke comprehensively about Nigerian women and the political terrain, CSOs and Christmas

You are a member of women in politics forum, tell us about the forum.
Women in politics is a coalition of women who wants a role in elective government and women who wants to be part of the leadership in society. It is like a support group for women, a group that builds capacity for women who wants to run for political post in the country.

You are passionate about women, what was your childhood dream?
Right from my childhood at 14 after my JSS exams I went through guidance and counselling and when the lady there asked me what I wanted to become I said I wanted to work with women, I also wanted to be a governor right from there it has always been my passion to follow up women issues.

How would you describe Nigeria women in politics?
Nigerian women compared to 10 or 20 years ago has really improved, because those years only a few women were coming out for elective or leadership roles unlike today that we have so many coming out.

The primaries just ended and there seem to be no woman candidates, what is happening?
There are a few, in Taraba state a woman won the primaries and in some legislative positions like he Senate and House of Representative a few women came out and I think we should applaud them because some credible ones won their primaries.

What kind of support does the forum gives to women aspirants?
As I earlier said we are a support group for women, we connect them to social networks, build their social capital and tutor them on how to actually build their capacity to enable them compete well and win their elections.

Why capacity building and not financial support considering the monetary nature of Nigerian politics?
Yes capacity building because a lot of women go into politics just as we all know politics has become a means to an end where people go into politics because it is like a lucrative business and whatever is lucrative attracts people. They don’t go into politics because they have leadership qualities and so whenever they go in they tend to lose their elections because they don’t know what it entails. Leadership or politics is not just about having an intention to be a governor there is something you need to do to take you there and that is the capacity gap women have found themselves.
On the other hand the monetary nature of Nigerian politics is a huge challenge for women because women don’t have the resources to compete with their male counterparts. Campaigns are no longer issue based or rather not yet issue based in Nigeria and what is issue base campaign? Its someone coming out with a message of what they want to do when they get to office, what we see is that politics is now a form of investment and can women compete in that area? It is hard for women to meet up when it comes to money politics.

Does this mean the national gender policy is not yielding the expected results for women?
The gender policy especially that of INEC was just launched a few weeks ago and is not yet been implemented so women cannot start benefitting from a policy that was just released barely a month ago.

Do you think it will benefit women?
Yes I think so, with proper advocacy and because unlike the past there are several kinds of bodies and coalition of women in existence. Now we have the Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF), Women in Politics Forum (WPF), and many other bodies that advocates for women rights. If all of us can have one voice to say we want women to be on an elected position and not through appointments and we fight hard for it i think the gender policy will work.

Why are women interested in politics today, before they shy away from it?
Women are interested in politics now because every Nigerian has the constitutional and legal right to vote, be voted for and to assume any leadership position. As against before when patriarchal and cultural factors kept woman at the margin and we felt we do not belong to governance. Today we believe that if men can lead women can also lead, it’s like a worldwide emancipation and women now believe that we can get there if a man can be President women can too.

On that note where do you vision women in the upcoming general elections?
To be frank women have done well but for the upcoming elections there would be a drop, there has been a drop from the previous one and I still blame it on the capacity gap. Maybe we have come in late but we have started building capacity for them.

Women complain of poor representation in political parties what’s your take on a women-only political party as some people recommend?
Speaking realistically, every woman must be a member of a political party because there is no room for independent candidacy but I think having an only women political party would work against us, rather let us remain in the male dominated party and build our capacity.

Do you think women can be at hierarchy of political parties if they don’t establish theirs?
That is where the gender policy comes in if we advocate well and begin to implement the gender policy then the 35% affirmative action for women even in INEC and other organisation should be left for women. That means if a man is chairman let a woman be vice and so on that is what is in the gender policy so if we advocate well women groups, civil societies come together and say this what we want and we push it hard we will get there.

Why don’t we see political godmothers like the men have godfathers?
There are but i would rather call them mentors if the godfathers are mentoring young ones to hand over to, the older women should also carry younger women along because their is no success without a successor.

Civil Society Organisations have been accused of been too money conscious, as a member how will you clear this allegation?
It could be true but the few I belong to work diligently. Recently I was in Jos under a civil society and we did an intervention in a post conflict society where we taught skills and we didn’t get any intervention from the government, it was funded by people who were passionate about the issue. We also visited the displaced women so not all civil societies are money conscious so many are out there impacting the society.

What motivated you to working with CSO’s?
I am into human capacity development so anywhere i can build my passion and express myself I make myself available. The CSO I belong to are the ones that centre on women issues because women suffer alot during crises, after crises, in governance, business women are at the brunch so whenever I hear of any civil society whose vision and mission is centred on women I join.

What is your educational background?
My first degree was in political science and i majored on gender inequality and development that is, how gender inequality affects nation development and right now I am running my masters in peace and conflict resolution.

Where do you see yourself in the nearest future say 3-5 years time?
My vision is to build capacity for a lot of women.

What is your take on the continuous adoption of young girls by terrorists?
It is unimaginable and I can’t even put myself in their shoes because these girls have been turned to suicide bombers, forced conscription into war, sex slaves, some are rapped, pregnant, some killed. it is pathetic because these are leaders of tomorrow and they are our daughters and sisters I can’t do much but pray every day that somehow they should be found and be rehabilitated. One thing is for them to be found, the second is bringing them out of this psychological trauma they have been through.

Is your organisation doing anything concerning these girls?
Yes women in politics are pushing hard, all civil society organisation for women are pushing hard we are crying, shouting and speaking the language everywhere so that whoever can should do something about them.

What would you say you have achieved in life?
My life achievements may not be that of acquiring wealth or things people can see, my joy and achievement is that lives are being touched every day. From the places I have been to, women are being taught skills and they are inspired, some others we have built their capacity in business and entrepreneurship and all these have given me so much joy and I hope to do more.

Do you have any regrets in life?
There are no regrets, I just wish I started impacting lives earlier but the vision is for an appointed time so if i started now then this is the right time.

How do you feel about Christmas?
Christmas is a season of love, good tidings and joy. I am happy the King is born today because Christmas is the reason we are alive. For me Christmas is a day of reflection, yes friends and family are there to celebrate with but beyond that it is a day to thank God and reflect. If God so love the world that Jesus was born on this day how can I show love to those around me?

Any message for Nigerians especially women?
I want to urge us all women to build our capacities, we say we are been marginalised and we are not measuring up to our men but I think we should do more in building up ourselves. For women going into politics work on yourselves and ask what you need to do like how to build your social capital, engage with media and package yourself for what you are running for. Women in small and medium enterprise how do I need to package myself, what area of myself should I develop and how do I deploy? Let us build our capacities and by the time we all do that we will find out that actually there is no such word as women being marginalised because if you are good for the job nobody will stop you.