Hameed Braimah
As part of efforts to increase women’s participation in political decision making process, stakeholders have advocated for the creation of special legislative seats reserved for women in order to improve the percentage of women parliamentary representation in Nigeria.
The stakeholders advanced this position at an advocacy/town hall meeting organized by FIDA Nigeria under the auspices of the Advance Women political participation project tilted “Advancing Women’s Inclusion and Representation in Leadership and Political Processes in Nigeria”.
Towards this end, a bill has been proposed to give effect to the reserved seats for women and has passed its second reading at the House of Representatives on July 9, 2024, under the leadership of Deputy Speaker Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu and 12 co-sponsors.
Organized towards building consensus amongst stakeholders in Edo State and to consolidate the memoranda to be Presented to the Constitutional Reform Committee during Zonal Public Hearings, the Advocacy/Town hall Meeting had female lawyers, NGOs, market women and religious organizations participating. The advocacy is supported by the UN WOMEN and funded by the Foreign Common Wealth Development office (FCDO) of the United Kingdom Government.
According to Eliana Martins (Mrs)
Country Vice/ National President FIDA Nigeria, the Reserved Seat for women Bill is a transformative legislation, designed to create additional seats exclusively for women in the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly.
Represented at the event by Princess Francisca Elema, Chairperson, FIDA Edo State, the move typifies a bold and historic step towards achieving gender equity and inclusive governance.
“This project being implemented in Edo State is aimed at engaging Nigeria Citizens at the state and community levels towards building consensus and aggregating demands on the passage of the reserved Seats for women Bill which is presently being considered by the Joint Constitutional Reform committees of the National Assembly.
“The proposed amendment seeks to establish one special seat for women in the Senate and House of Representatives per state and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), totaling 74 additional seats at the federal level.
It also aims to reserve three seats for women in each State Houses of Assembly, distributed across the three senatorial districts, totaling 108 seats nationwide.
“This temporary yet transformative measure, effective after the current National Assembly’s term and subject to review after 16 years, is a strategic intervention to address Nigeria’s alarming global ranking—178 out of 182 countries—for women’s parliamentary representation”, Eliana Martins explained.
Also speaking at the well attended meeting, immediate past Deputy Speaker, Edo State House of Assembly, Rt Hon. Maria Edekor, charged the stakeholders to redouble efforts towards pushing the proposed piece of legislation to its logical conclusion.
Edekor who described the proposed bill as an instrument to protect the vulnerable in the Nigerian society, urged them to synergize with relevant interest group within the nation’s polity to push the Bill through.
The former deputy speaker expressed confidence that the National Assembly would do right by passing the reserved seats Bill into law given the burning zeal of its sponsors to have it passed.
