The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, has called on Nigerian women to unite and build a strong political movement capable of determining candidates, influencing elections and securing greater representation in decision-making.
Sulaiman-Ibrahim made the call in Jalingo while inaugurating the states’ Commissioners of Women Affairs to coordinate the initiative across the country as secretariat of the Power of 10 Million Women Movement.
She described the initiative as a collective movement rather than the property of its founders, urging Nigerian women to take ownership of the platform.
“We’ll keep expanding, everyone; we just want the movement. We may have started, but it’s not our movement; it’s your movement.”
The minister, who stressed the importance of women’s collective bargaining power, said political participation would remain limited unless women mobilised resources and acted as a united bloc.
She said the movement would challenge arguments that women lacked the financial capacity to contest elections or would not support female candidates.
“So this movement is about to change that. This movement means that we’ll mobilise so many resources that we’ll decide which money goes there.”
Sulaiman-Ibrahim said savings by women collectives across the country demonstrated their capacity to mobilise significant resources for political participation, adding that women could build a substantial political fund if properly organised.
She said women must also be involved in policy formulation, particularly on issues affecting them and children.
The Minister said the experience of conflict had reinforced the need for women to participate in conversations around gender infrastructure, gender needs and national development.
“You know we are having the right conversations. We are having conversations about gender infrastructure, about gender needs.”
She stated that women and children often bear the greatest burden when crises occur, making their participation in decision-making essential.
Sulaiman-Ibrahim said the 10 Million Women Movement would establish structures at the local level to mobilise women and strengthen their political influence.
“On behalf of the women of Nigeria, it’s my pleasure to present you the 10 million to inaugurate the secretariat for the power of 10 million. This secretariat will support our first ladies.” she said
The minister, formally decorating the State Commissioners as coordinators of the 10 million, urged women to pursue equity in political representation.
“We’re not; we’re not asking for anything but equity. It’s a country of 50-50. We don’t want any 35% anymore. We want 50.” She charged.
Earlier, the National Deputy Woman Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Hajiya Zainab Abubakar Ibrahim, said women remained severely under-represented in political leadership despite constituting a significant proportion of Nigeria’s voters.
Abubakar, who has been nominated by the Taraba State Governor as his running mate for the 2027 elections, said only two women were among the 25 members of the APC leadership, stressing that women needed a coordinated movement to negotiate for political power.
“Politics is a game of numbers. So it means we do not have any voice there.”
She said the absence of women from key decision-making structures had weakened their ability to influence policies and political outcomes.
“If you are not on the table, you are the menu.”
The National Deputy Woman Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hajiya Zainab Abubakar, says Nigerian women need a united movement to strengthen their bargaining power and secure greater representation in political leadership.
“Have you ever seen how the Labour Congress protects their own? The students have a body called NANs. Labour Congress has NLC. You can go on and on and on and on. Which one do we have as women? There is none. We are operating in silos, and let me tell you, nobody can achieve this alone. It is not possible.”
Abubakar said women must move beyond receiving palliatives and build a movement that could mobilise resources, negotiate political representation and influence elections.
“The women’s movement is the negotiating power of women.”
She said the Power of 10 Million Women initiative could provide the numbers required for women to influence leadership at state and national levels.
“If you decide what becomes, you are a stakeholder in it,” she charged.
