INEC has stressed the need for a legal framework to encourage more women to participate in politics. This was assertion was made during the training for women to women voters’ education in Abuja recently. Speaking during the programme, the Deputy Director, Gender Division, Ms. Blessing Obidiegwu, lamented what she described as the huge gap created by the lack of women in the political terrain noting that the “National Gender Policy has no legal backing and is only a policy.” She added that much more still needs to be done to increase women’s participation in politics and advised women not to buy or sell their votes. The training which was conducted in partnership with the National Women Trust Fund to sensitise the women trainees at the grassroots to reach out more to others by informing them about peaceful elections and voter education through a process called ‘pair to pair,’ and ‘women to women’ voter education exercise.
