Meranda, Natasha, Soetan’s ordeals dim IWD 2025 celebration in Nigeria

• WIMBIZ wants fair hearing for Natasha, assault on Ikeja Electric CEO probed

Three events that occurred this week have left a nasty taste in the mouths of many women ahead of the International Women’s Day (IWD) 2025, slated for Saturday: the forced resignation of Mojisola Meranda as Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, the suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan and the attack on Ikeja Electric CEO Folake Soetan.

Meranda made history in January when she emerged as the first female leader of the legislative arm of Nigeria’s commercial capital of Lagos, while Natasha holds the record for the first female senator in North-Central state of Kogi.

In Nigeria, women participation in politics is abysmally low. Just four (10%) of the 40 lawmakers in Lagos are women. It gets worse at the federal level: only 20 (4.26%) are in the 469-member National Assembly – four in the Senate and 16 in the House of Representatives.

Meranda and Natasha’s ordeals have cast a shadow on the progress that IWD 2025 aims to celebrate and could dampen the interest of more women in politics.

“This is an unfortunate situation and shows how insensitive this administration has been including the women ministry. We did not see any female department coming out to stand their ground concerning these women,” Tinu Mabadeje, a Lagos-based politician and gender advocate, told Markets Reporters. “With the current economic situation and these events, what IWD celebration can we have now?”

On Monday, Meranda resigned her position to allow her predecessor, Mudashiru Obasa, to return. She now holds the record for the shortest-serving speaker. Three days later, Natasha was suspended for six months due to a sexual harassment allegation against Senate President Godswill Akpabio.

Women in Management, Business, and Public Service (WIMBIZ), a NGO established in 2002, said it was “deeply concerned about the recent incidents that highlight the ongoing challenges faced by women in leadership across Nigeria”.

“First, we are troubled by reports of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan – a female senator facing severe institutional pushback after raising concerns about misconduct. She has not been given a fair hearing and no investigation conducted as far as public knowledge is concerned. But she has been met with punitive measures that effectively silence her and compromise her ability to serve,” it said in a statement on Friday.

WIMBIZ also condemned Thursday’s attacks by personnel of the Nigerian Air Force on staff of Ikeja Electric including its CEO Folake Soetan, “who was subjected to intense intimidation and harassment simply for doing her job”.

“These incidents are reflective of a broader reality: women in leadership positions across Nigeria whether in politics, business, or public service are too often subjected to undue scrutiny, intimidation, and, in extreme cases, physical harm,” WIMBIZ said. “The under-representation of women in leadership, combined with the persistent gender biases they face, continue to hinder our national progress.”

The group called for fair hearing from the female senator and an investigation into the assault on Ikeja Electric CEO.

Globally, women and girls represent half of the world’s population. And it is believed that women now play a very vital role in human progress and have a significant place in society. Gender equality and empowerment is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations to be achieved by the year 2030.

However, gender equality in Nigeria is constrained by cultural practices which elevate patriarchy to an absurd degree.  A recent report by UN revealed that an additional $360 billion is needed per year to achieve gender equality globally. The international organisation said there has been progress over the last decade, but the world is not still on track to achieve gender equality by 2030.

Africa’s most populated nation consistently ranks low in global comparisons of women’s political representation, particularly in parliamentary roles. The country has a National Gender Policy that aims to increase women’s representation, but its implementation has been inconsistent.

According to the 2024 Global Gender Gap index data of the World Economic Forum, Nigeria ranked 136th out of 146 countries in political empowerment

“In political empowerment, Nigeria ranks among the bottom 10 performers (136th) with a parity score of 6.6 percent but improvements in particular on ministerial positions since 2023, with women’s representation rising from 10.7 percent in 2023 to 17.6 percent in 2024 (score change from 12 percent to 21.4 percent),” the report said.