NASS pushes to increase women’s participation in governance

The National Assembly is working on numerous bills and measures to increase the participation of women in both elected and appointive offices in Nigeria.

Abbas Tajudeen, the speaker of, the House of Representatives, made this known at a one-day high-level national summit on women’s inclusion in Abuja.

The summit was organised by the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (Centre LSD), with support from the Commonwealth and Development Office through the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC).

Tajudeen, represented by Fatima Talba, chair, of Women in Parliament, National Assembly, said that women constituted approximately 49.45 per cent of Nigeria’s total population as of 2023 but it does not reflect so in governance.

The speaker said that the participation of women in politics has remained relatively low since 2015, adding that had the gender bills rejected by the 9th Assembly scaled through, the situation would have been different.

He, however, said the 10th Assembly was committed to reversing the negative trend and ensuring increased women’s inclusion in governance through some initiatives.

“Firstly, we are reintroducing and supporting the Bill on special seats for women as part of our constitutional amendment efforts.

“This initiative aims to provide immediate representation for women in legislative bodies while we work towards long-term solutions.

“We will advocate for legislation that increases women’s representation in elective positions by creating special women-only seats within both the Senate and the House of Representatives.”

Tajudeen said that the assembly would encourage State Houses of Assembly to adopt similar measures.

He added that the assembly recognised the need for electoral reforms to mandate political parties to include a certain percentage of female candidates within their leadership structures.

The speaker said that the assembly was working towards the passage of the Gender Equal Opportunity Bill to ensure that women were active and equal participants in Nigeria’s political and decision-making processes.

Tajudeen added that oversight has been strengthened to ensure compliance with the National Gender Policy and court judgment on the full implementation of the 35 per cent affirmative action on appointive and elective positions in both the public and private sectors.

A member of Ekiti House of Assembly, Abimbola Solanke said the inclusion of women in governance was not merely a matter of gender equality but a critical component of the nation’s progress.

“Women bring unique perspectives, strengths, and solutions to the table, and their full participation in governance is essential to building a more just, equitable, and prosperous society,” she said.

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Oluwafunmilayo Para-Mallam, the keynote speaker, said the constitutional inclusion of women was not an option but a national development imperative.

Para-Mallam said, “If Nigeria is to take its rightful place among the comity of nations and function as a globally competitive economy, it must as a matter of urgency, put in place appropriate constitutional, legal, policy and institutional mechanisms.

“This is to maximise its human resource base across the rich diversity of the demographic landscape.

In terms of quantity and quality, Nigerian women constitute the most educated, enterprising and hard-working women on the African continent and even in the world.

“Thus, their abysmally low representation in governance constitutes unequivocal evidence of the need for far-reaching constitutional reform towards building a nation where there are equal opportunities and comparable development outcomes for all.”

Otive Igbuzor, founding executive director, of Centre LSD, expressed hope that the 10th assembly would pass the five gender bills rejected by the 9th assembly to increase women’s participation in politics.

He said, “All over the world, it has been recognised that if you want to accelerate development, you need to include women.

“It is not a favour done to women. It is not just good politics, but it is also good economics, and inclusion of women is not an option but a development imperative.”

Hauwa Mustapha, the deputy chair of the Centre LSD, said the low participation of women in politics was worrisome and that was why the centre put the summit together to seek a way forward.

Mustapha said there was a need to understand the reasons women were excluded from governance and address them from the grassroots to increase inclusion.