Women Political Advancement and the Pipeline Theory under President Buhari’s Administration

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to unravel through desktop review and theoretical expositions the
efforts of a past administration aimed at mainstreaming women into the political sphere in
Nigeria. This is with the view to advance our understanding of the efforts made by the
Buhari’s Administration to address the” supply-side’’ issue which is a key challenge that
accounts for women’s under-representation in Nigerian politics. Whereas past administrations
and non-profit organizations have attempted to build women’s political careers through
funding and trainings which may bring women into the main pipeline for candidacy, as the
proponents of the pipeline claim posits, no significant changes have been recorded. This
paper uses a comparative method between the 2007 experiences and that of 2023 while
anchoring it in the Pipeline for candidacy theory as our framework of analyses. Results from
the study, suggest that by giving waivers for nomination forms to women, the former
president did not only address the issue of lack of funds for most female aspirants within the
All-Progressives Congress (APC), but brought more women into mainstream politicking.
There is therefore the likelihood of having more women vying for political positions in the
future, like what happened in 2007 when free nomination forms were give women in some
political parties in the country. The paper recommends that subsequently, our leaders should
follow suite as part of their efforts to encourage potential female aspirants to participate in
politics. There is also the need for a review of the existing laws by the National Assembly in
a way that would make it compulsory for political parties to nominate female candidates for
elective and appointive positions.