WOMEN IN POLITICS : ICT TO THE RESCUE
Nigeria is among the top ten countries using mobile devices and internet.
According to Professor Cleopas Angaye, DG NITDA and guest speaker at the 2014 edition of Nigeria Internet Governance Forum, Nigeria ranks seventh in the world with 167,371,945 mobile devices in use in the country. It might be even more since it is estimated that one in every three Nigerians uses two mobile phones.
The Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) in its official publication, The Communicator had said the country’s mobile subscriber database had hit, 167,371,945 with GSM technology contributing 7.76 per cent to the nation’s GDP. The Commission said subscriber’s teledensity rose from 86.62 per cent in September, 2012 to 92.14 per cent in February, 2014. As at February 2014, the commission said the total number of internet subscribers’ database had hit 63,474,364.
In its 31st edition of State of the World’s Children in numbers, United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund UNICEF, states that while 68 out of every 100 Nigerians use a mobile device, 33 of those using mobile devices are hooked to the internet.
As the internet usage and mobile device acquisition rates increase, the introduction of new applications and softwares that help people run their daily lives increase. The number of social media applications in the country keeps increasing by the day. In the same vein, uses of social media platforms grow by the day.
With the country’s democracy is its teething stage and with growing discontent among the masses, there is an unending call for more women to participate in politics. Re iterating the need and importance of women in politics, United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon stressed that “countries with more gender equality have better economic growth. Companies with more women leaders perform better. Peace agreements that include women are more durable. Parliaments with more women enact more legislation on key social issues such as health, education, anti-discrimination and child support.The evidence is clear: equality for women means progress for all”.
Though the number of women in politics in Nigeria has increased over the last four years, many still believe there is still space for double the number who are actively in politics now. However, gender activists insist that the way politicking is done in the country and the heavy financial implications discourage many of them. Another section of the public believes that the male dominated political terrain offer little or no support to the women folk.
ICT comes in handy to help project and publicize activities of women pursuing a political career. It will help bridge the gap of communication, reach out to the people and inform them of their manifesto, activities and interact with them on a daily basis. This will give them a continuous online presence and in the long run endear them to the masses. Through social media platforms and online discussion portals, the masses are not only informed of what goes on in political parties, the are also given updates on teh activities of their elected female political representatives. They are also given opportunity to air their views and react to some nagging national issues.
The dawn of ICT has not only brought good tidings to the political atmosphere, it has also strengthened citizen participation not to mention objective criticisms and robust arguments from opposition parties. All these in more ways than one open up more frontiers for women politicians to explore.
Across the globe, the importance of ICT in as a driving force for women in politics is reverberating.
Political Mobilization
Modern political participation needs resources to mobilise citizens and leaders to direct, or more precisely to channel, the course of that mobilisation. This view implies that there should be established political structures, a meeting place of a kind in order to make political demands and a supply to meet. The ideal type of politics is usually regarded as being a representative democracy in which every citizen may find his/her political home. To facilitate this participation, there ought to be ICT products and services in use at all the stages.
The importance of information and communication technology for women in politics cannot be over emphasized as ICT strengthens political participation of the masses and political elite. It is an open secret that there is a wide disconnect between those at the corridors of power and those who are ruled. This reason experts say is why there is growing incidents of poverty with a large chunk of Nigerians living below poverty level.
United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, UNICEF, in its recent report said 54 per cent of the Nigerian population live below international poverty level of $1.25 approximately two hundred and ten naira (N210). The country’s data on infant and maternal mortality rates are frightening while that of child labour, domestic violence and child marriage leaves much to be desired. But in all these, it is a consensus that women politicians will do better to ensure that maternal and infant mortality are reduced to its minimum; it is also accepted that women politicians can canvass and ensure a smooth and cordial relationship between the female representative and her people.
The internet and ICT comes in handy in this line to bridge the gap between female political representatives and their constituents.
A public Affairs analyst Mr. John Adewale said that ICT is a veritable tool that oils the wheels of political participation of more women, the female representatives and the masses.
According to him, female politicians and other policy makers will use ICT to reach out the masses to get their opinions on some policies they make.
“ICT comes in handy in politics especially for the women folk, to bridge the yawning gap between the people and their female representatives, politicians and government. Recall that many politicians immediately after they are elected, they are very difficult to reach. Either they are travelling from one state to another or they are travelling from one country to another. They joy of ICT is that it is seamless and cuts across boundaries. Even in Australia or New Zealand or when at home, our female politicians and elected representatives can still reach their constituents and update them daily, apart from using the ICT to sample their opinions on policy frameworks”, he said.
While urging female politicians to do more to reach out to their constituents through the use of ICT, Mr Adewale observed that though most female politicians are tech savvy, they have failed to translate into a potent political weapon adding that in all social media platforms women get the highest number of comments and reactions more than their male counterparts. He further urged the female representatives to do more to ensure that their political activism is also reflected in their online presence stressing that part of the winning formula for female political participants is ensure they operate their social media accounts so that they can value and implement reactions elicited from the masses on such social media platforms.
Networking
Networking and mobilisation are some of the key tools female politicians use in their everyday life to garner more followership and deepen their stronghold in their respective constituencies. There is no gain saying that ICT comes in handy as a tool to help mobilise members and would be members.
With new forms of communication emerging and with the country and the world going global, there is no gain saying that female politicians will be moved to shape up.
In the words of a politician Stephen Ochuba, female politicians have no choice but to sign up to some of the ICT products and services in order to reach a larger number of people. It is obvious that they need to increase their followership as it will help them determine who wins at the elections anytime. The more the followers, the likely the female politician’s chances of winning or that of her candidate is. Again the array of social media platforms plus a well planned multi pronged online campaign will do the for the female politician seeking to network more and garner more followers.
“From Skype to Face book, to LinkedIn, Instagram, BBM or Pinsterest and many oters, a female has a wide variety of platforms that she can use adequately without spending much on online campaign. This is one are they should be explore more as it will help them expand their followership which is key to their winning or losing elections. They should have visible online presence and should be able to network daily. The rule of the thumb is meet two new people daily”, he said.
Electioneering
Electioneering is one key area that ICT will be very useful and according to industry experts. It is however a consensus that ICT will play and has been playing a key role in electioneering in the country even as many agree that Nigeria and her female politicians are yet to tap into the multiple potentials there in.
According a political analyst, Michael Abba, ICT can be used by political parties and female politicians for mass mobilization and information dissemination. Mr Abba maintained that ICT will help female politicians and political parties in disseminating their manifesto adding that ICT is a tool that will help the female political elite in policy marketing and information sharing. According to the seasoned analyst, ICT will also play a key role in membership drives apart from campaigns, information exchange and intelligence gathering.
A social media strategist and brand consultant Sam Oloyede is of the view that ICT will play a leading role in politics insisting that biometric registration, e-voting, digital real-time vote counting and announcement of results are some of the areas it will be employed that will benefit the masses. Mr Oloyede who observed that though many voters are not swayed by social media, a strong perception, charismatic candidate added to committed campaigns using traditional media will help the female representative win the voters over to her side.
German Chancellor, Angela Merkel has on many occasions taken to the micro blogging social media platform, twitter to share updates with her country people. Female politicians like Senator Chris Anyanwu, Florence Ita Giwa, Daisy Danjuma and Nenandi Usman among others have social media accounts that if harnessed properly will increase their followership and strengthen their political stronghold of their communities.
It is also on record that President Barak Obama and his Nigerian counterpart Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan have in more ways than one shown and utilised ICT as a tool to reach out to millions of their countrymen. Both of them declared to run for the highest position in their respective countries through the social media, Facebook. Since then, apart from garnering more than 3 million followers each, they have consistently used the Facebook platform and other social media platforms to communicate to their citizens their policies, why they are taking such decisions and giving them updates on government policy frameworks.
Politician Dr Kunle Falobi in his opinion emphasizes that ICT in politics will deepen democracy, ensure accountability and open more vistas in the political realm.
In his words, ICT in politics will ensure uncompromised integrity, efficiency, promote transparency and restore trust in the political system. He added that ICT for women in politics will open new economic opportunities for the tech industries including opportunities to innovate in an evolving world.
On how well women can utilise ICT, the politician stated that, the female political elite can use it to engage the people because they are educated about the process.
“They understand the value in that engagement, plus they "care" about peoples’ perception and opinions about their activities while in office and or campaigning for said offices.
From Flicker, to Google plus, to twitter to Facebook, to Youtube, to Pinterest, to instagram and LinkedIn, female politicians and the political elite understand that the use of ICT is indispensable, but what remains to be said is to what extent Nigerians and Africans rely on (and use) reactions from the use of such social media platforms and other ICT platforms available to them to drive political change.
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