It started as one of those impromptu discussions that often emerge among Nigerians passionate about politics. Over a group phone call last week, a friend made an observation that stopped our conversation mid-flow: "You know, Tinubu has mentored practically half of Nigeria's political elite, right? Including Osinbajo, Fashola, Sanwo-Olu, the list goes on. But can you name even five women that Senator Ireti Kingibe or Natasha Akpoti has visibly mentored?"

The silence that followed was telling. Here we were, discussing the impressive victories of Nigeria's current crop of female politicians, yet we could not identify a single clear mentorship lineage among them. That moment of realisation birthed this exploration: while we celebrate individual female political achievements, are we missing a critical element that could accelerate women's political representation in Nigeria?

But here is what we discovered when we dug deeper: the mentorship gap is not a failure of individual women, it is a symptom of a system designed to keep women isolated and struggling for survival.

The Brutal Numbers

In 2024, Nigeria ranked 32nd out of 35 Sub-Saharan African countries for women's political representation. Women held just 3.9% of parliamentary seats, 3% in the Senate and 4% in the House of Representatives. This actually represents a 19% decline from the previous assembly.

The Tale of Two Political Systems

The Male "Godfather" Machine

When Bola Ahmed Tinubu became President in 2023, his political legacy was undeniable. His mentorship tree reads like a who's who of Nigerian politics:

  • Yemi Osinbajo: From Lagos Attorney General to Vice President

  • Babatunde Fashola: From Lagos Commissioner to Governor to Minister

  • Rauf Aregbesola: From political activist to Governor to Minister

  • Babajide Sanwo-Olu: Groomed through various roles to become Lagos Governor

This is not benign mentorship, it is Nigeria's "godfather" system. This financially-driven patronage network allows powerful men to use access to government contracts and oil wealth to sponsor and control younger politicians. It has colonial roots and operates on a simple principle: wealthy political figures invest in promising candidates, creating networks of loyalty and succession.

The Women's Fragmented Journey

Nigeria's female political history tells a different story, one of individual brilliance without institutional legacy.

  • The Pioneers (1999-2007): Sarah Jubril broke ground as Nigeria's first female presidential candidate in 2003. Virginia Etiaba became the country's first female governor in 2006 (for just three months). Diezani Alison-Madueke emerged as a formidable political force.

  • The Technocrats (2007-2015): Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala brought global credibility as Finance Minister. Obiageli Ezekwesili championed transparency as Education Minister.

  • The Current Wave (2015-Present): Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan finally won after multiple electoral attempts. Senator Ireti Kingibe claimed the coveted FCT Senate seat.

  • The pattern across all eras: women focused on personal political survival rather than building ecosystems for others.

Why Women Are Trapped in Individual Struggle

1. The "Godfather" Exclusion

Women are structurally excluded from the financial networks and informal power structures that make male political machines work. The lucrative patronage networks that fund male careers are largely inaccessible to women, forcing them to find alternative, often insufficient, sources of funding.

2. Party Gatekeeping

Political parties are male-dominated institutions that relegate women to ceremonial roles like "Women's Leader." These positions focus on gender-specific activities rather than real governance experience. Even when parties have written quotas, like the PDP's "not less than 35%" provision, implementation remains tokenistic.

3. Financial Warfare

Nigerian politics is "notoriously expensive." Campaign costs are prohibitive, and women lack access to the financial patronage networks that sustain male careers. Without financial independence, women can't compete effectively or invest in mentoring others.

The Zero-Sum Trap

When opportunities for women are artificially constrained, every advancement becomes a hard-fought victory in a game with too few winners. This scarcity model transforms what should be collaborative professional relationships into high-stakes competition. Women find themselves competing not just against systemic bias, but against each other for the handful of positions deemed appropriate for female participation.

The psychological toll is immense. Women who have clawed their way to positions of influence often arrive there exhausted, having expended enormous energy navigating hostile environments, proving their competence repeatedly, and managing the emotional labor of being perpetually "the only woman in the room." By the time they reach positions where they could effectively mentor others, they are operating from a fundamentally depleted state.

Every successful woman becomes an inadvertent political strategist, carefully calculating how to spend her limited capital. Should she advocate for herself or for other women? Should she take on the additional unpaid labor of mentoring junior colleagues? These are not choices men typically face.

Case Studies: Why Success Does Equal Mentorship

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: Her success came as a global technocrat with international credibility, not through building grassroots political networks. Her appointive positions were tied to ministerial tenure, not dynasty-building.

Senator Ireti Kingibe: Her journey involved moving between four different parties before finally winning on the Labour Party platform. This political nomadism, while showing persistence, is not conducive to building stable institutional power.

Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan: Her path was marked by years of legal battles and isolated fights for electoral victory. While inspiring, her experience underscores the precariousness of women's political journeys.

These women succeeded as exceptional individuals navigating a hostile system, not as products of a replicable process. The system rewards men for collaboration within patriarchal networks and women for individual struggle.

The Compound Effect: What Nigeria Is Missing

Male political mentorship creates exponential growth:

  • Tinubu mentors 10 people

  • Each of his mentees mentors 5 others

  • In two generations, that's 60 politicians in key positions

  • Result: A powerful political network spanning federal and state levels

Current female approach creates linear growth:

  • Individual woman breaks barriers

  • Focuses on personal achievement

  • Next generation starts from zero

  • Result: Slow, incremental progress that can even reverse

The Policy Paradox

The National Gender Policy (2006) proposes 35% affirmative action. INEC has its own Gender Policy promoting "gender-responsive electoral processes." But implementation has been consistently weak. Multiple versions of the Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill have been rejected by the National Assembly. The Reserved Seats Bill, which would create additional parliamentary seats specifically for women, failed in the 9th National Assembly though progress is being made on a new version in the 10th assembly.

Meanwhile, civil society organisations operate in a parallel universe, trying to build mentorship pipelines from the outside. While their work is vital, they cannot fix institutional failures from within the political system.

The Real Cost of the System

For individuals: Every generation of women politicians reinvents the wheel, lacking the networks and knowledge transfer that accelerate careers.

For the system: Women's political representation crawls forward incrementally instead of leaping exponentially. Democratic institutions continue underrepresenting half the population.

Case Study - The Lost Generation After Okonjo-Iweala: When Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala served as Finance Minister (2003-2006, 2011-2015), she wielded enormous influence and global networks. If she had systematically identified and developed 20 young women economists during her tenure, Nigeria might have had a pipeline of internationally trained female technocrats ready for ministerial positions by 2024. Instead, each new administration starts from scratch.

Breaking the Gatekeeping Cycle

For successful women, the challenge is acknowledging that their survival strategies like protecting limited space, maintaining uniqueness, avoiding association with "failed" women have become barriers to collective progress.

The Mindset Revolution Required:

  • From scarcity to abundance: Recognize that more successful women enhance everyone's standing

  • From protection to expansion: Use hard-won positions to create more positions

  • From being special to making others special: Shift from "I'm not like other women" to "I'll help other women become like me"

  • From individual legacy to collective legacy: Measure success by how many doors you open

The Choice Ahead

The mentorship gap reveals a fundamental truth: Nigeria's political system is designed to prevent the sustainable growth of female leadership networks. Women like Okonjo-Iweala, Kingibe, and Akpoti-Uduaghan have proven that individual women can break barriers but breaking barriers and building sustainable pipelines require completely different conditions.

Until Nigeria's power structures, political parties, legislative bodies, and financial networks are reformed to create an enabling environment, women will continue on their current path: isolated struggles that produce exceptional individuals rather than institutional change.

The current generation of female political leaders stands at a crossroads. They have proven women can break glass ceilings. The question now is whether the system will allow them to build bridges for others to follow. The question is not whether individual women can succeed in Nigerian politics, that has been proven. The question is whether Nigeria will finally build the institutions that make female political success sustainable and scalable.


  • Group 1

Novher