Nigerians endorse women's participation in politics.

Supporters rides in a campaign bus of Nigeria's leading opposition All Progressive Congress (APC) presidential candidate Mohammadu Buhari and his unning mate Yemi Osinbajo in Lagos on January 24, 2015. Unknown gunmen stormed and bombed the site of a  ~  PIUS UTOMI EKPEI

Lagos - Latest poll findings suggest most Nigerians support the idea of women contesting for political positions in the upcoming 2015 elections.

According to NOIPolls, 86 percent of Nigerians are in support while to this regard, 81 percent would be willing to vote for any woman contesting for a political position.

According to surveyors, this stance was regardless of age, geo-political zone and gender, although support was higher among female than male respondents.

According to NOIPolls, this finding therefore suggests a great transition in the perception of the participation of women in governance over the years. In line with this, the present administration’s implementation of the National Gender Policy has marked a significant increase in women’s representation in Government from 10 percent in 2011 to over 33 percent in 2013.

This follows the appointment of 13 female Ministers out of 42, representing 31 percent and 4 Special Advisers out of 18, representing 23 percent.

“This breakthrough in Nigeria’s political history has contributed to the overall success of the Women Empowerment and Gender Equality which is one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),” NOIPolls stated.

The opinion poll was conducted in the week of March 9, involving telephone interviews of a random nationwide sample. A total of 1 000 randomly selected phone-owning Nigerians aged 18 years and above, representing the six geopolitical zones in the country were interviewed.

“With a sample of this size, we can say with 95 percent confidence that the results obtained are statistically precise - within a range of plus or minus 3 percent,” NOIPolls stated.

The population of Nigeria has been estimated to be about 167 million people and women form half of that population.