Go beyond rhetoric, leaders demand women’s special seats

From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja

Leaders at the National Convention on Women’s Roadmap to 2027 General Elections have condemned women’s low numbers in key political offices.

At an event organised by the International Federation of Women Lawyers Nigeria, League of Women Voters of Nigeria, Inter-Party Advisory Council, and supported by UN Women, held at the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), yesterday, they urged the National Assembly to expedite action on the bill for women’s representation.

Held under the theme, “Beyond the Special Seats for Women Bill,” it had in attendance women political leaders, civil society organisations, commissioners of women affairs, lawmakers among others.

“Realities on ground remind us every day of the reprehensive situation of women under representation in government in Nigeria. Since the advent of democratic rule in the year 1999, currently stand below 5% and it is very, very despicable,” NILDS Director-General, Abubakar Sulaiman, who spoke at the convention, said

Detailing the bill, Sulaiman noted: “Today, Nigerians stand at a decisive moment in this constitutional issue. As the National Assembly approaches the final phase of voting on the constitution alteration bill, the special seat for women will represent one of the most transformative democratic reforms before our nation and offers the constitutional to work correctly, structurally, and in balance, peacefully, legally, and within the framework of our democratic traditions. It proposes two seats, additional seats, in the Senate, one in the geopolitical zone, 37 additional seats in the House of Representatives, one per state and the FCC, and one a traditional seat across the House of Assembly, three per state.

“The time is now. We must go beyond rhetoric to create specific and additional seats for women. We must go beyond advertising. We must go beyond talking without wanting to talk. The time is now. We must go beyond passing leaf services to the issues that concern women inclusion if we are to achieve sustainable development and true democracy in our country.”

former Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, in a goodwill message, urged persistence. “Women have been talking and crying all across the nation, from state to state. Yesterday (Wednesday), women from different states were making their voices heard. This struggle we are appealing to get women on the decision table for Nigerian women to take their rightful place will become a reality. Don’t give up. We will never rest. We will continue to push. The struggle continues until our demands are met,” she declared.

Chairperson of the House Committee on Women Affairs and Social Development and bill sponsor, Hon. Kafilat Ogbara, framed it as justice. “The issue of women’s political inclusion in Nigeria is no longer a matter of appeal. It is a matter of justice. Being women, we are the national developers. Because we raise people inside our homes not to talk of where women are all over the place now developing a lot of places. We have women in the private sector, engineering sector, banking sector” she emphasised.

“We are at the final stage of passing this bill… The time for decisive inclusion is now. The time for symbolic participation is over… We must demand deliberate financial support… We must reject this not just with the revolution, but with the collective political will to ask for women inclusion… Not just a seat at the table but a voice that shapes reality,” she said.