US Consul General, Will Stevens, on Friday, called on women in Nigeria to participate in the 2027 general election.
Stevens drummed support for women's participation in politics.
He spoke at the SheRise conference held at the US Consulate in Lagos, tagged ‘Women in Politics: the Risk and the Leap.’
“It is such an honour to host today at the consulate, this conference on the role that women can play in Nigerian politics and how we can see and increase the participation of women in politics. We have some incredible mentors here today. That mentorship that women can do to support each other is so critical.
“As the trailblazers move forward, they should be pulling behind them more and more leaders so that we increase political participation. That is the basis of so many programmes that the US mission here supports.”
The Consul General described Nigerian women as an incredible set of people, more of whom are needed in the politics of the nation.
He said, “We live in a society where attention span is short and it is really hard to break through to get attention. As a woman leader, you need to have attention. Go for it, demand it and make sure that you have a seat at the table at the politics.”
Also, the Global Coordinator, of HerLeap Network, Adetoun Tola, said that women need to be empowered to increase their participation in the next election cycle in Nigeria.
According to her, “We need more competent women in the next election cycle. Our gathering here is to speed up our mettle as women in the area of politics.
We have seen women do phenomenal things in the political space and we have seen women pay lip- service to women empowerment.”