The National Assembly has been charged to pass the bill seeking to reserve more seats for women in the parliament. A coalition of civil society organisations (CS0) made this call recently in Abuja during the launch of a national campaign for the urgent passage of the Reserve Seats for Women Bill in the National Assembly. The group said full political participation of women in Nigeria could inject $22.9 billion into the economy. They believe that reserving some seats for women in parliament will address deep-rooted structural barriers that have excluded Nigerian women from formal political leadership.
Leaders of the coalition include Chief Executive Officer of TOS Group; Osasu Igbinedion Ogwuche, Chief Executive of Connected Development (CODE); Hamzat Lawal, Special Adviser to the Deputy Speaker on Youth and Women Affairs, Joy Akut; and Director, TOS, Kingsley Sintim.
We align with the call by the civil society coalitions for more seats to be reserved for women in the parliament. It is long overdue. At the moment, there is wide discrepancy between men and women representatives at the National Assembly, comprising the Senate and Federal House of Representatives. In a society like ours, where men call the shots, women need to be empowered to achieve their political potential. We need to build a future where women thrive and contribute fully to socio-economic development of the country.
In the current Senate, only four women were elected to the upper house, out of 109 elected officers. In the lower chamber, the Federal House of Representatives, only 16 women were elected out of 360 members. This shows a 19 per cent decrease compared to the 9th Assembly. The number of seats currently occupied by women merely represents 3 per cent of seats in the Senate and 4 per cent of seats in the House of Representatives. In the 9th Assembly (2019-2023), out of the 479 elected members, women accounted for only 19 elected members. This disproportionate representation is similar to what obtains in the state parliaments, where men dominate the seats.
According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Nigeria currently ranks in the bottom ten worldwide in women’s representation in national parliaments. It is also surprising that there is almost near parity of voters in the country, yet women’s decline in Nigerian politics has been on a downward trajectory since 2011. We frown at these figures, because they do not represent Nigeria’s population mix. Statista reports in December, 2014 revealed that Nigeria’s female population in 2023 was approximately 112.68 million, while the male population was around 115.21 million, representing roughly 49.4% and 50.6% of the total population, respectively. This figure is too close to call to occasion such a wide discrepancy.
Last year, the House of Representatives passed the bill seeking to amend the constitution to create extra legislative seats for women in the National and State Assemblies to the second reading. The bill was sponsored by Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, and 12 others to alter Sections 48, 49, 71, and 117 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to create one “Special seat reserved exclusively for women in the Senate and House of Representatives for each state of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.” This is coming years after the 9th National Assembly voted against the 35 per cent affirmative action in party administration and leadership.
If passed, the bill would take effect after the term of the current National Assembly elapses and is subject to review every 16 years. The bill also proposes to alter Section 91 of the constitution to provide for three special seats “Reserved exclusively” for women in the State Houses of Assembly. Ogwuche lamented during the campaign flag off in Abuja that Nigerian women had shown good leadership at homes, businesses, and communities but were excluded from political decision-making spaces. Since the return to democratic rule in 1999, only a few women have mustered courage to contest for election. They often run under small parties without the reach to take their dreams to the next level. Nigeria should urgently take a cue from Rwanda, a country that survived one of the most devastating civil wars in Africa, which has the highest female representation in politics worldwide. Rwanda’s post-genocide constitution, ratified in 2003, provided for the inclusion of a gender quota mandating no less than 30 per cent of political seats to women.
We encourage political parties in Nigeria to grant women wavers in purchasing expression of interest forms, which are often exorbitant. This is the first hurdle most female political aspirants usually fail to pass. Inasmuch as we call on men to support women to reach their full potential, it is worth noting that women need to support themselves more. In politics, women hardly vote for fellow women, which partly accounts for why we have fewer women as political office holders. With the numerical strength of women in Nigeria, it is expected that they should do better in politics. With their votes, they could influence more female representation in competitive politics. All hands must be on deck to give Nigerian women their rightful place in governance.