A former senator, Florence Ita-Giwa has asked Nigerian women to insist on female running mates for male presidential candidates.

This was made known on Wednesday by Ita-Giwa during a panel discussion at the national progressive women’s conference in Abuja.

The former senator called on women to build structures and mobilise resources to back female candidates.

She suggested that women should decide not to vote for any political party that does not field a female politician as running mate in the 2023 presidential election.

“How do we build the next generation of women? We cannot bring in the next female generation of politicians if we do not allow some empowerment for them,” she said.

“You have to prepare yourself, you have to put together your structure, election materials, you have to travel around, there is no joke about it. You need money for you to run around, for you to be elected.

“I have heard here that we should ask them to allow women to be deputy governors. Why should we stop at that.. in this country today and with the calibre of women in this hall even coming from the next generation, intellectuals, and established women?

“I think it’s about time that the women should seriously say that any presidential candidate that is coming out of this country, the women will not vote for him if he does not take a woman as his vice-president. That should be our proposal so that the next generation will be given opportunities. It is about time that we have a female vice-president of this country.”

Bisi Fayemi, the first lady of Ekiti, spoke on the need for women to be empowered and provided with opportunities for advancement.

“We need to empower our women, we need to be able to provide support for those, for example, who might not be able to benefit from political appointments, who might not have the qualifications,” she said.