From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has called for the support of the United States government for Nigeria’s efforts in promoting gender equity and electoral reforms.
He made the call during a meeting with a delegation from the U. S Embassy, on Wednesday, in Abuja.
Kalu, who also chairs the House Committee on constitution review, said the country would need support in the areas of technical expertise, advocacy and capacity building.
“How do we partner with the US? We seek the US Embassy support in various areas, technical expertise, and share comparative insight on gender responsive and electoral systems.
Let’s know how you’ve done it and succeeded; advocacy, amplify stakeholders engagement with civil society, media and political parties.
“You already have structures. We can adopt those structures and make them to reflect what we want to achieve with this particular mission. It’s not a fanciful outing. It’s impact oriented. We need to capacitate those that will drive the impact and it’s through this strategic partnership.
“For traditional rulers, we are thinking as a committee to integrate them into the constitution and assign roles to them, to help enhance national cohesion and unity.”
Kalu noted that the constitution review committee has prioritized women participation in governance, judicial, local government reforms, the youth, amongst others.
He added that the parliament has introduced bills to address low representation of women in politics through the creation of special seats for women in the National and state Assemblies.
“Nigeria’s democracy remains incomplete so long as half its population – its women – are relegated to the sidelines. Today, women hold a mere 4% of legislative seats nationwide. In some states, like Kano and Sokoto, not a single woman sits in the State Assembly. This is not just a failure of representation; it is a failure of justice.
“As a result of our wide consultations and engagements with various stakeholders, the committee resolved to add one special seat per state in the Senate and the House of Representatives at the national level and one seat per senatorial district at the sub-national level.
“To correct this imbalance, we have introduced the Special Seats
Bill (HB 1349) – a 16-year Temporary Special Measure to reserve 182 additional legislative seats for women (37 Senate, 37 House, 108 State Assemblies). This bill addresses systemic barriers – financial exclusion, electoral violence, and patriarchal norms – by creating women-only constituencies,” he said.