In a push to strengthen women’s representation in Nigerian politics, about 40 female aspirants drawn from various political parties in Kwara State, North-Central Nigeria, have completed a three-day training designed to prepare them for electoral contests ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The initiative, themed “From Foot Soldiers to Front Runners”, was held in Ilorin from Monday to Wednesday, aimed at equipping participants with the knowledge, strategies, and confidence needed to transition from grassroots mobilisers to credible candidates.
The training was at the instance of Women Environment and Youth Development Initiative (WOYODEV), a nongovernmental organisation, with support from UN Women, and funding from the European Union.
On the sidelines of the training, the Executive Director of WOYODEV, Tosin Apiriola-Ajayi, said the project, being held in three states in the country, including Kwara, was targeted at women to make them politically savvy and participate actively as contestants.
She said that female political aspirants from local communities were also incorporated into the training, thus preparing them for the future political contest.
The WOYODEV leader added that the objective of the training was to equip the participants with the practical skills to build and run an election campaign and position themselves as viable flag-bearers of political parties.
“In total, we are training 120 selected across the three states. So, for each state, we are training 40. In Kwara, we have 40 women for the training for the next three days. We had about six political parties in attendance and had participants from Baruten, Kaiama, Patigi, Edu, Ekiti and the whole of Kwara,” Apiriola-Ajayi said.
She noted that the essence of the training was to transform the female political aspirants into candidates of political parties and have them emerge as winners in the 2027 electoral contest.
So, the overall goal of this gathering is to transform female political party aspirants from passive foot soldiers into empowered, strategic and confident contestants in the 2027 Nigerian general elections.
“This project started in March this year. We are going to run the project for the next two years till after the general elections. It is a process. We want to work with women from now till after the general elections, and the project is being done in three states: Enugu, Lagos and Kwara.
“For this quarter, we are training female political members who will stand to contest between now and the 2027 general elections, not those who will be foot soldiers.”
The state Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs Afolashade Oluwakemi, said the initiative transcends economic independence for women, saying that it was about empowering them to increase their political participation in the country.
She applauded WOYODEV for organising the event, which focused on empowering women and girls through practical skills, knowledge and leadership development.