Most of the things people do in government is driven by greed. People are there no matter how badly the governor or the president or their boss is do… - Chinyere Stella Okunna

Many people see women politicians as wayward, irresponsible which is terrible; and that belief even among the educated men in Nigeria is still common. Many men will not encourage their wives and even their daughters to go into politics and that is a major handicap. So both before and after the last election, I’m disappointed. I’m even heartbroken. There are two ways women can go into politics. Either by election or through appointment. In many states like my own, the governors do not appoint enough women and there are capable women. Suppose women don’t have the courage or the finances to go into elections, don’t they have the capacity or the brains to be appointed by governors or by the president to support them through appointive positions? So, whether it is through elective processes or through appointment, the number of Nigerian women in politics and leadership positions has not been impressive

Do you remember the gender bills that were proposed recently? All of them were dropped; none of them were passed. I used to say I don’t believe in tokenism or quota system but it seems ideal in Nigeria now and women need encouragement and support through the quota system or policies to include them in governance or leadership.

The country is in a bad shape and on the brink of collapse, so much so that even those Nigerians who were apathetic towards politics are now sufficiently alarmed to show interest in who has the capacity to salvage the country. The intelligentsia are no exception.