FELIX NWANERI writes on the move by the House of Representatives to address imbalance and the underrepresentation of women at the national and states Assembly through creation of extra seats that would exclusively be reserved for them

It is hope for more female representation in the nation’s legislature, following the move by the House of Representatives to create extra seats for women at the national and states Assembly. The bill in this regard, which has passed second reading in the House of Representatives, is sponsored by the deputy speaker, Benjamin Kalu and 12 others.

The proposed legislation seeks 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 (FCT)., totaling 74.

The bill also proposes a take-off date of 2027 (after the tenure of the current National Assembly elapses) and subject to review every 16 years. It further proposes alteration to section 91 of the Constitution to provide for three special seats “reserved exclusively” for women in the Houses of Assembly of each state of the federation. Co-sponsor of the bill, Hon. Joshua Gana, who led debate on the proposed legislation, said it is aimed at addressing a profound imbalance and the under-representation of women in the National Assembly and at the sub-national level.

The bill, according to him, is “anchored on the fundamental principle of equitable representation, and aims to empower women by ensuring their voices are not only heard but that they actively contribute to shaping the legislative landscape and the overall development of our nation.”

He added: “The issue of gender equality and representation lies at the heart of our constitutional democracy,” noting that even though the Constitution guarantees equal right, the representation of women in the legislature has been alarmingly low. His words: “In the 7th, 8th and 9th Assemblies, women accounted for only 6.4 per cent, 6.1 per cent and 2.7 per cent of the Senate respectively; and 6.4 per cent, 3.05 per cent and 4.7 per cent of the House of Representatives respectively.

“These statistics underscore the urgent need for proactive measures to ensure equitable representation and amplify the voices of women in our legislative Houses at the national and sub-national levels. The rationale behind this amendment is grounded on the principles of fairness and inclusivity. “Globally, Nigeria lags behind in women representation in parliament, ranking among the lowest.

Countries that have implemented affirmative action, like Rwanda and Andorra, have seen significant strides towards gender equality in governance.” Gana further said that the bill not only proposes a temporary measure of seat reservation for women to catalyse similar progress in Nigeria but will ensure that women’s perspectives and priorities are fully integrated into national and sub-national decision making processes.

The spokesperson of the House, Hon. Akin Rotimi, who contributed to the debate, said there is a “broad consensus” that it is necessary to have more women in parliament. Minority Leader of the House, Hon. Kingsley Chinda, who also supported the bill, said the parliament needs to correct the deficiency.

“We must make deliberate effort to solve problems where we see them,” he said. However, some other lawmakers who contributed to the debate, opposed the bill on the premise that it is against the provisions of the Constitution on equal opportunity for all. Hon. Ghali Tijani said rather than

Statistics underscore the urgent need for proactive measures to ensure equitable representation and amplify the voices of women in our legislative Houses at the national and sub-national levels

reserve special seats for women, political parties should deploy mechanisms to improve women’s participation in politics. Olamijuwonlo Alao Akala (Oyo), Patrick Umoh (Akwa Ibom) and Billy Osawaru (Edo), who also opposed the bill, cited violation of the Constitution.

Women’s poor run in legislative polls

While it is indisputable that more women across the globe are actively getting involved in policy decisions and implementation in their respective countries, the political space seems to be shrinking for them in Nigeria given the number, who were on the ballot and actually won elective positions in the 2023 elections.

For instance, a total of 16,164 candidates were listed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 1,520 elective positions, however, there was only one female out of the 18 candidates, who contested the presidential election. The sole female candidate is Princess Chichi Ojei of Allied Peoples Movement (APM). This represents just 2.77 per cent of the contestants. None of the parties fielded a female vice presidential candidate.

In the senatorial election that had 1,101 candidates for the 109 senatorial seats, 92 were women (8.35 per cent), while 288 women out of 3,122 candidates contested for House of Representatives, representing 9.2 per cent. Cumulatively, there were 381 women among a total of 4,230 contestants for the presidency and the National Assembly seats. This represents 8.9 per cent of the contestants.

A state-by-state analysis shows that out of the 36 states of Nigeria, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), five states did not field any woman as a candidate for the Senate, while one state did not field any woman as a candidate for the House of Representatives.

The states are Kano, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara for senatorial elections and Jigawa for House of Representatives polls. For the governorship elections in the 28 states that had a total of 837 candidates; there were 24 female candidates, while 100 ran for deputy governorship slots. Only 18 states had female governorship candidates. Six states – Abia, Akwa Ibom, Benue, Delta, Kano and Lagos – topped the list with two female governorship candidates each.

The other states with female governorship candidates are Adamawa, Borno, Cross River, Ebonyi, Enugu, Jigawa, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Oyo, Rivers and Zamfara (one candidate each). There were no female governorship candidates in Bauchi, Gombe, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Ogun, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba and Yobe states.

On the number of female governorship candidates fielded by the parties, Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Action Democratic Party (ADP) and Social Democratic Party (SDP) had three standard bearers each, while Action Alliance (AA), Allied Peoples Party (APP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) had two female governorship candidates each.

Nine parties – APC, Accord, Labour Party (LP), African Democratic Congress (ADC), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Booth Party (BP), National Rescue Movement (NRM), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) and Young Progressive Party (YPP) – had a female governorship candidate each. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and African Action Congress (AAC) had no female governorship standard bearer.

Sadly, none of the female governorship candidates scaled the hurdle. For the deputy governorship slots, there were no female candidates in three states – Katsina, Taraba and Yobe. Lagos topped the list of states with female deputy governorship candidates with nine. Delta and Ogun states followed closely with eight candidates each. Enugu, Gombe, Akwa Ibom and Plateau states had six female deputy governorship candidates each.

Four states – Benue, Rivers, Oyo and Kaduna – had five female deputy governorship candidates each; Abia (four); Adamawa, Kwara and Nasarawa (three each); Bauchi, Borno, Cross River, Ebonyi, Jigawa, Kebbi, Niger, Sokoto and Zamfara (two each) and Kano (one). For states Assembly elections, a total of 10,240 candidates contested for the 990 state Houses of Assembly seats across the 36 states.

Of these contestants, 9,221 were male, while 1,019 were female. The figures for the 2023 elections showed a drop in women’s participation compared to the 2019 elections. In the 2019 polls, six of the 73 presidential candidates were females. For vice presidential candidates, there were 22 women.

Also, out of the 1,904 candidates for the senatorial election, there were 235 women (12.3 per cent) of which seven (6.42 per cent) were elected into the Red Chamber. For the House of Representatives that had 4,680 candidates, 533 women (11.6 per cent) vied for seats although only 11 (3.05 per cent) were elected. Sadly, none of the seven female senators in the 9th National Assembly returned to the 10th Senate.

Shrinking space for women in parliament

According to available statistics, from 1999 till date, only 158 women have been elected into the National Assembly (39 senators and 119 members of the House of Representatives) compared to 2,657 men (616 senators, 2,041 reps) within the period. Unfortunately, the results of the 2023 National Assembly elections further exposed the country’s failure to implement several treaties and statutes it signed, which are aimed at ensuring women’s involvement in politics.

Out of the 92 women, who contested for senatorial seats, only three won seats in the nation’s upper legislative Assembly. They are Ireti Kingibe (Labour Party, FCT), Aderanti Adebule (All Progressives Congress, Lagos) and Ipalibo Banigo (Peoples Democratic Party, Rivers). Natasha Akpoti (Peoples Democratic Party, Kogi) later joined the Red Chamber after emerging victorious in a bye election.

For the House of Representatives, only 14 out of the 286, who contested for seats in the House of Representatives got elected. They are Nnabuife Chinwe Clara of YPP), who won the Orumba North/Orumba South federal constituency of Anambra State, Orogbu Obiageli of LP (Awka North/ Awka South federal constituency of Anambra State), Gwacham Maureen Chime of APGA (Oyi/Ayamelum federal constituency of Anambra State), Regina Akume of APC (Gboko/ Tarka federal constituency of Benue State), Ibori-Suenu Erhiatake of PDP (Ethiope East/Ethiope West constituency of Delta State) and Fatima Talba of APC (Nangre/ Potiskum constituency of Yobe State).

Others are Onuh Onyeche Blessing (APC, Otukpo/Ohimini federal constituency of Benue State) Zainab Gimba (APC, Bama/Ngala/ Kala-Balge federal constituency of Borno State) Beni Butmak Lar (PDP, Lantang North/Lantang South federal constituency of Plateau State), Goodhead Boma (PDP, Akuku Toru/ Asari Toru federal constituency of Rivers State), Khadija Bukar Abba Ibrahim (APC, Damaturu/ Gujba/Gulani/Tarmuwa federal constituency of Yobe State), Onuoha Miriam (APC, Isiala Mbano/Okigwe/ Onuimo federal constituency of Imo State and Adewunmi Ariyomi Onanuga (APC Ikenne/Shagamu/ Remo North federal constituency of Ogun State). In the states Assembly elections; out of the 1,019 women, who contested for seats in the 36 states legislative houses, only 48 were able secure seats.

A breakdown of the figure according to states shows that Ekiti had the highest number. Out of the 26 seats in the state House of Assembly, six were won by women. Kwara and Akwa Ibom states are next with the highest number of elected female lawmakers in 2023. The two states have five and four females, respectively. In Lagos State, only three females were elected.

This is the same as Ondo State. The figures further show that 15 states do not have a single female elected lawmaker. Out of the seven states in the North-West region, all except Kaduna State are male-dominated Houses of Assembly. In the North-East, only Adamawa and Taraba states have female lawmakers in their present Assembly. The other four states in the region have none.

Out of the 25 seats in the Adamawa State House of Assembly, only one is occupied by a woman, while there are two women in the Taraba State Assembly. Abia, Imo, Niger, Osun, and Rivers are also among the states that do not have elected female lawmakers in their legislative houses. The 2023 polls was the second election in a row that Abia State will not have a single elected female in its House of Assembly. Between 2019 and 2023, the 24 seats in the state’s Assembly were all occupied by males.

Reps move rekindles calls for affirmative action

While many have continued to clamour for inclusion of more women in governance, measures by successive government towards realizing this failed to yield expected results. For instance, the Federal Government, in Year 2000, adopted a policy called the National Policy on Women, which provided, inter alia, for affirmative action to increase to 30 per cent the representation of women in the legislative and executive arms of the government.

However, like most government’s policies, its implementation has only been on paper as there has been little improvement in women participation in governance since 1999, when Nigeria returned to civil rule except under President Jonathan (2010 -2015).

This, perhaps, partly informs why women still occupy the back seat in politics and governance even as there is no sign that it will get better soon due to several factors, particularly cost of electioneering, apathy among women, absolute control of the political parties by men, stereotyping, of female politicians and threat of election violence.

It is against these backdrops that some stakeholders and analysts have continued to call for legislative changes to ensure a quota system that reserves a fraction of electoral positions for women given that some African countries such as Rwanda, Senegal and Kenya have addressed the imbalance of women representation in governance through legislation.

Unfortunately, an attempt in this regard suffered a setback in Nigeria in 2021, when the 9th Senate turned down the Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill sponsored by Senator Biodun Olujimi (PDP, Ekiti South). Olujimi was forced to step down the bill after some senators raised concerns over possible infringement on Islamic morals. It was the third time the consideration and passage of the bill was frustrated, having been first introduced in the Eighth Senate in March 2016.

The bill, among others, sought to guarantee the rights of women to equal opportunities in employment, equal rights to inheritance for both male and female children; equal rights for women in marriage and divorce, equal access to education, property/land ownership and inheritance.

It also sought to protect the rights of widows; guarantee appropriate measures against gender discrimination in political and public life and prohibit violence against women. A similar move was equally rejected by members of the 9th House of Representatives during voting on the amendment of 1999 Constitution in 2022. The lawmakers rejected a bill that sought to reserve special seats for women at the National and state Houses of Assembly.

The bill was entitled: “A Bill for an Act to Alter the Provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to Provide for Special Seats for Women at the National and State Houses of Assembly.” Eighty-one lawmakers voted in favour of the bill, while 208 voted against it and 13 members abstained from voting. The 9th House also rejected a bill for an Act to alter the provisions of the 1999 Constitution to provide for affirmative action for women in political party administration and three others.

This prompted protests by women at the entrance of the National Assembly in Abuja. For days, the women besieged the entrance of the National Assembly and demanded the reversal of the bills. Following the protests, the House of Representatives rescind its decisions on three out of the five bills.

This Constitution that the National Assembly has been tinkering with since 1999 has not led Nigeria to anywhere

Stakeholders react

While the move by the legislators to create special seats for women in the respective legislative houses will appeal to gender equality campaigners, some political analysts who spoke on the issue expressed doubt over its workability. A chieftain of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Chekwas Okorie, in an interview with New Telegraph, said despite the clamour for more women to participate in governance, particularly in lawmaking, the bid by the House of Representatives is likely to hit the rocks given the peculiarities of the different pert of Nigeria. His words: “There is the sentiment that women should be given some special consideration in order to have greater participation at the legislative arm of government but it is almost like wanting to appoint women into elective positions.

How the modalities would be worked out is something I have not been able to figure out, and the lawmakers have not told us how they intend to do that. “However, my position, which is in tandem with the general stand of most Nigerians as captured by members of The Patriots, who recently met with President Bola Tinubu, is that we need a peoples’ constitution.

This Constitution that the National Assembly has been tinkering with since 1999 has not led Nigeria to anywhere, whether it is about giving women more opportunity to participate in governance or creation of more states and local government autonomy. “Most times, attempts to amend the Constitution to address these issues and others are usually met with brick wall. So, this move to create special seats for women in the respective legislative houses is likely to suffer the same fate.

Whereas people in the South may be disposed to acceding to that type of sentiment, those in the North have their own cultural values, which make them yet to come to terms that women should be visible in public affairs “So, if you don’t get 24 state Houses of Assembly to support the proposals, it collapses like others before it, and I doubt if they can get up to 24 states Assembly, when 19 out of the country’s 36 states are in the North. So, I see the exercise as one that will end like others and the lawmakers will tell the women that they have tried.

I, therefore, suggest that jettison this political posturing and face the reality of a peoples’ constitution, so those who want that to be incorporated in the constitution will push for that rather than embarking on fruitless ventures that never yield anything. The chairman of Centre for Anti Corruption and Open Leadership, Debo Adeniran, on his part, said the National Assembly is already overcrowded and needed no more seats.

“It will be superfluous because we already have an overcrowded National Assembly. There is no reason why we should create more. As a matter of fact, our suggestion at the level of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights and CACOL is that we don’t need a bicameral legislature at the national level, the way we have it.

That the House of Representatives is enough, and that we should not have more than three representatives in each of the states and they should be holding constituency meetings regularly such that the constituents will have the opportunity to get regular feedbacks from their representatives.

“This will enable the people to carry out what is called needs assessment, so that whatever bill that is being considered will have to emanate from the different constituents, not that the legislature or the legislator representing any constituency would think on behalf of the people. So, the creation of more seats in the Assembly is superfluous, unnecessary and unwarranted.

There’s no reason for it.” While most Nigerian women believe in the promise of an equitable and just political union that consolidates the diverse strengths of citizens, such will remain a mirage until their contribution to the stability, peace and progress of the nation gets the recognition and reward it deserves by granting them more opportunities in politics and governance.