• Women target 1m signatures to represent bills
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Benjamin Kalu, has assured that the five gender bills rejected by the 9th National Assembly in 2022 will be passed by the 10th Assembly.
The rejection of the bills by the 9th National Assembly had led to immediate massive protests across Nigeria, including blocking of the entrance gate of the Assembly by Womanifesto, a feminist, non-political, women focused group with over 500 organisations across Nigeria.
The five gender bills include: “Bill to provide special seats for women at National Assembly”, “Affirmative action for women in political party administration- 35 per cent of executive positions”, “Bill to grant citizenship to foreign-born husbands of a Nigerian woman”, “A bill on indigeneship- married women should have a choice on state of origin and have access” and “Bill seeking the inclusion of at least ten percent affirmative action in favour of women in Ministerial appointments”.
Kalu, threw his weight behind the reconsideration of the bills, while speaking at the social media action and launch of advocacy hashtag and signature campaign #Reconsider5genderbills , #affirmativeaction organised by the Women Advocate Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) and her gender bill cluster including Womamifesto, National Coalition on Affirmative Action , Gender and Constitition Reform Network, SAGE and Gender Mobile with support from USAID and SCALE Palladium to get at least one million signatories to ensure passage of the Bills.
Represented by his Special Adviser on Strategy and Programme Development, Karu Simon, the Deputy Speaker said although the gender bills were not passed in the 9th assembly, he is confident that it will see the light of the day and passed by the current National Assembly.
He advocated increased awareness, citing the need for the public and the lawmakers to be properly informed and educated about the importance of the five gender bills, explaining that the reason they were thrown out in the 9th assembly was because of lack of awareness.