DETAILS ON BILL TO CREATE ADDITIONAL SPECIAL SEATS FOR WOMEN IN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, STATE HOUSES OF ASSEMBLY

Mr. Speaker, Honourable Colleagues, permit me to lead the debate on the general principles on A Bill for An Act to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to create additional special seats for Women in the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly. You would recall that the Bill was read for the first time on Thursday 22nd April, 2021 in this hallowed Chamber

Mr. Speaker, my respected Colleagues, this bill seeks to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 to remedy the low representation of women in Legislative Houses by providing for the creation of additional separate seats to be contested and filled by only women in the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly as a temporary measure to promote women’s representation. The provision is subjected to a review after four general election cycles of sixteen years for the purpose of either retaining, increasing, or abolishing the temporary measure

The Bill is comprised of six major clauses that seeks to alter Sections 48; 49; 71; 77; 91; and 117 as set out below-

1. Alteration of Section 48
Section 48 of the Principal Act is altered by substituting the existing section 48 with a new section “48” –

“48. Composition of the Senate
(1) The Senate shall consist of:

(a) three Senators from each State and one from the Federal Capital Territory; and

(b) an additional Senator for each State and for the Federal Capital Territory, who shall be a woman.

(2) Notwithstanding the provision of subsection (1) of this section, nothing shall prevent a woman from contesting for any of the senatorial seats referred to in subsection (1) (a).

(3) The provisions of subsection (1) (b) shall commence after the current life of the National Assembly and shall be reviewed after 16 years from its commencement notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution.”

2. Alteration of Section 49
Section 49 of the Principal Act is altered by substituting the existing section 49 with a new section “49” –

“49. Composition of the House of Representatives
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the House of Representatives shall consist of:
(a) three hundred and sixty members representing constituencies of nearly equal population as far as possible, provided that no constituency shall fall within more than one State; and

(b) two additional members for each State and for the Federal Capital Territory, who shall be women.

(2) Notwithstanding the provision of subsection (1) of this section, nothing shall prevent a woman from contesting for any of the seats in the constituencies referred to in subsection (1)(a).

(3) The provisions of subsection (1) (b) shall commence after the current life of the National Assembly and shall be reviewed after 16 years from its commencement notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution.

3. Alteration of Section 71
Section 71 of the Principal Act is altered by inserting immediately after sub-sections (1) (a) and (b), new subsections “(2)” and “(3)” –

71. Senatorial districts and Federal constituencies
(1) Subject to the provisions of section 72 of this Constitution, the Independent National Electoral Commission shall –

(a) divide each State of the Federation into three Senatorial districts for purposes of elections to the Senate;

(b) subject to the provisions of section 49 of this Constitution, divide the Federation into three hundred and sixty Federal constituencies for purposes of elections to the House of Representatives.

(2) For the purpose of section 48 of this Constitution, a State shall constitute an additional senatorial seat to be occupied by a woman.

(3) For the purpose of section 49 of this Constitution, the Independent National Electoral Commission shall divide each State of the Federation into two Federal constituencies to be occupied by women.

4. Alteration of Section 77
Section 77 of the Principal Act is altered in subsection (1) by substituting the words “every Senatorial district or Federal constituency” in lines 1 and 2 with the words “every Senatorial district, Federal constituency and the additional seats”–

“77. Direct election and franchise
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, every Senatorial district, Federal constituency and the additional seats established in accordance with the provisions of this Part of this Chapter shall return one member who shall be directly elected to the Senate or the House of Representatives in such manner as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly.”

5. Alteration of Section 91
Section 91 of the Principal Act is altered by substituting the existing section 91 with a new section “91” –

“91. Composition of the House of Assembly
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, a House of Assembly of a State shall consist of:
(a) three or four times the number of seats, which that State has in the House of Representatives divided in a way to reflect, as far as possible, nearly equal population; and

(b) one additional member from each of the three senatorial districts in the State referred to in section 48 (1) (a) of this Constitution, who shall be a woman.

(2) Notwithstanding the provision of subsection (1) of this section, nothing shall prevent a woman from contesting for any of the seats in the constituencies referred to in subsection (1)(a)

(3) The provisions of subsection (1) (b) shall commence after the current life of the State House of Assembly and shall be reviewed after 16 years from its commencement notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution.

Provided that a House of Assembly of a State shall consist of not less than twenty-four and not more than forty-three members.”

6. Alteration of Section 117
Section 117 of the Principal Act is altered in subsection (1) by inserting immediately after the words “every State constituency” in line 1, the words “and the additional seats”–

“117. Direct election and franchise
Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, every State constituency and the additional seats established in accordance with the provisions of this part of this Chapter shall return one member who shall be directly elected to a House of Assembly in such manner as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly.”

My respected Colleagues, Women has only 4.4% percent representation in the 9th National Assembly, you may wish to note that Nigeria has been identified as the worst performer in women representation in parliaments, in the West African region and one of the lowest in the whole of Africa. This is evidenced in the most recent Inter-parliamentary Union (IPU) ranking of women in parliaments where Nigeria ranks 179 out of 187 Countries Worldwide. Eritrea is the only African Country ranked lower than Nigeria and this is because there have not been national elections since its independence in 1993. The situation is worse at the States Houses of Assembly level, where a good number of our States do not have a single woman in their State Assembly. In some of these States, men chair the Women Affairs Committee because there is no woman available to take the role.

Currently more than 130 Countries have adopted some type of special measure (or quota system) to address women’s under-representation. Over 75 percent of these cases were introduced in the last 20 years – particularly since 2000. Strikingly, the majority of Nations that have adopted special measures/quota systems are low or middle-income countries – many of them in Africa. A very good example is South Africa, where the introduction of quotas in the 1994 election by the African National Congress (ANC) party resulted in 27% of women in their very first democratic election. Currently South Africa has 46.5% of women in their lower chamber and is one of the top ten Countries for women in parliament. Rwanda is the world leader in women’s political participation with 49% of women in their lower chamber. This followed from deliberate constitutional efforts taken to include women in government to foster re-building of the Country post-genocide in 2003.

Even conservative countries are beginning to realise the usefulness of political inclusion of women. For instance, women in countries such as Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco, the State of Palestine and Tunisia have successfully lobbied for the introduction of various measures, such as electoral quotas, to increase and strengthen women’s political representation. Between 2010 and 2017, the majority of countries in the Arab region have seen an increase in the representation of women in their parliament. In 2013, it may also interest you to note that for the first time, 30 women were appointed to Saudi Arabia’s Shura Council (advisory body), representing 20 per cent of seats as of 2021. In Algeria, the proportion of female members of parliament (MPs) tripled, from 8% to 32% in line with a quota introduced in 2012. In Afghanistan, women now make up about 27 percent of the upper and lower houses of parliament and were active in drafting the country’s new constitution. This was facilitated by a male President who signed and supported declarations of women’s rights and in 2005 appointed the first female governor. Our West African neighbour, Senegal, adopted a parity law in their Constitution in 2012. This was facilitated by then President, Abdoulaye Wade and resulted to an almost 50-50 balance between men and women in the Senegalese Parliament. Nigerian women are not even asking for 50-50 but 35% which is what is indicated in our National Gender Policy and several international Treaties that we are signatory to. The number is identified as the “critical mass/number” of women required to achieve impactful results.

Mr. Speaker, my respected Colleagues, I would like emphasis that women’s inclusion in politics is not just a women or human rights issue, but also an issue of reflecting our history and traditions in our governance process, and I truly believe that this Bill has potential for improving women’s political representation, therefore I urge all my respected Colleagues to support that the Bill be read for the Second Time and committed to the Ad-Hoc Committee on the Review of the Constitution for further Legislative action.

Thank you.

Rt.Hon [Barr] Nkeiruka Onyejeocha
[Sponsor of Bill]
Deputy Chief Whip
House of Representatives
Federal Republic of Nigeria

Download this to learn more: https://placng.org/i/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Special-Seats-for-Women-in-the-Nigerian-Legislature.pdf

It is a welcomed development.

I only hope they'll be better than their male counterparts who only loot like they've sold out their conscience.

Scenario in the house will be like...

Female legislooter: I bring this bill to the house for further consideration

Male legilooter: Sit down my friend, what do you know about politics

Female legislooter: You're so rude and uncultured, how could you interrupt me in such manner

Male legislooter: I have your type at home *pulls out whip
Make any further utterance and I'll surprise you

Female legislooter: *removes gèlè and her heel

Male legislooter: *removes cap and pull off agbada

To be continued...

Women are now clamouring for Special Seat, tomorrow they'll tell us The future is femail.

Women belong to the kitchen, the living room and other rooms ... Muhammed Buhari

Hmmm. I am not getting this back and forth on how we hope to create a meritocratic system if we legislate a law that seem to be a tokenism compared to what a woman can achieve if she competes and collaborates on a level playing field.

Instead of creating a top heavy system that increase the cost of governance, why not direct the resource to make law for special fund for the girl-child and give revolving loans to women,especially widows.

In my opinion, the cheapest way to end poverty is to give quality education to the girl-child so she doesn't go into early marriage, have unspaced multiple children and can add economic and human resource value more than the girl child is currently able to achieve in our nation.

The empowerment of the women impacts the children more as children depend more on their mothers. If she's given a revolving loan through cooperatives, she can pay back overtime and sooner have some cash left to save and invest after meeting basic needs.

Sincerely the proposed law is elitist and just a fresh attempt to create more political 'jobs for the girls' in a way that increase the burden on the poor women indirectly because what should be given to empower her economically ends up supporting female politicians who, in my opinion, are not particularly spectacular (like most of their male politicians) if one recounts the mind boggling corruption cases of notable female politicians like Senator Stella Oduah, Mrs Nenadi Usman , Mrs Diezani etc.

This is the kind of feminism that I support. Not the kind of feminism that says you should be engaging in a boxing competition with men.

Nonsense instead of reducing the size of the Legislature, they want to increase it. What a country! Is that democracy?

How does this help Nigeria?

How does this bring out the restructuring of Nigeria, and the practice of true federalism?

Seun:
DETAILS ON BILL TO CREATE ADDITIONAL SPECIAL SEATS FOR WOMEN IN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, STATE HOUSES OF ASSEMBLY

Mr. Speaker, Honourable Colleagues, permit me to lead the debate on the general principles on A Bill for An Act to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to create additional special seats for Women in the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly. You would recall that the Bill was read for the first time on Thursday 22nd April, 2021 in this hallowed Chamber

Mr. Speaker, my respected Colleagues, this bill seeks to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 to remedy the low representation of women in Legislative Houses by providing for the creation of additional separate seats to be contested and filled by only women in the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly as a temporary measure to promote women’s representation. The provision is subjected to a review after four general election cycles of sixteen years for the purpose of either retaining, increasing, or abolishing the temporary measure

The Bill is comprised of six major clauses that seeks to alter Sections 48; 49; 71; 77; 91; and 117 as set out below-

1. Alteration of Section 48
Section 48 of the Principal Act is altered by substituting the existing section 48 with a new section “48” –

“48. Composition of the Senate
(1) The Senate shall consist of:

(a) three Senators from each State and one from the Federal Capital Territory; and

(b) an additional Senator for each State and for the Federal Capital Territory, who shall be a woman.

(2) Notwithstanding the provision of subsection (1) of this section, nothing shall prevent a woman from contesting for any of the senatorial seats referred to in subsection (1) (a).

(3) The provisions of subsection (1) (b) shall commence after the current life of the National Assembly and shall be reviewed after 16 years from its commencement notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution.”

2. Alteration of Section 49
Section 49 of the Principal Act is altered by substituting the existing section 49 with a new section “49” –

“49. Composition of the House of Representatives
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the House of Representatives shall consist of:
(a) three hundred and sixty members representing constituencies of nearly equal population as far as possible, provided that no constituency shall fall within more than one State; and

(b) two additional members for each State and for the Federal Capital Territory, who shall be women.

(2) Notwithstanding the provision of subsection (1) of this section, nothing shall prevent a woman from contesting for any of the seats in the constituencies referred to in subsection (1)(a).

(3) The provisions of subsection (1) (b) shall commence after the current life of the National Assembly and shall be reviewed after 16 years from its commencement notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution.

3. Alteration of Section 71
Section 71 of the Principal Act is altered by inserting immediately after sub-sections (1) (a) and (b), new subsections “(2)” and “(3)” –

71. Senatorial districts and Federal constituencies
(1) Subject to the provisions of section 72 of this Constitution, the Independent National Electoral Commission shall –

(a) divide each State of the Federation into three Senatorial districts for purposes of elections to the Senate;

(b) subject to the provisions of section 49 of this Constitution, divide the Federation into three hundred and sixty Federal constituencies for purposes of elections to the House of Representatives.

(2) For the purpose of section 48 of this Constitution, a State shall constitute an additional senatorial seat to be occupied by a woman.

(3) For the purpose of section 49 of this Constitution, the Independent National Electoral Commission shall divide each State of the Federation into two Federal constituencies to be occupied by women.

4. Alteration of Section 77
Section 77 of the Principal Act is altered in subsection (1) by substituting the words “every Senatorial district or Federal constituency” in lines 1 and 2 with the words “every Senatorial district, Federal constituency and the additional seats”–

“77. Direct election and franchise
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, every Senatorial district, Federal constituency and the additional seats established in accordance with the provisions of this Part of this Chapter shall return one member who shall be directly elected to the Senate or the House of Representatives in such manner as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly.”

5. Alteration of Section 91
Section 91 of the Principal Act is altered by substituting the existing section 91 with a new section “91” –

“91. Composition of the House of Assembly
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, a House of Assembly of a State shall consist of:
(a) three or four times the number of seats, which that State has in the House of Representatives divided in a way to reflect, as far as possible, nearly equal population; and

(b) one additional member from each of the three senatorial districts in the State referred to in section 48 (1) (a) of this Constitution, who shall be a woman.

(2) Notwithstanding the provision of subsection (1) of this section, nothing shall prevent a woman from contesting for any of the seats in the constituencies referred to in subsection (1)(a)

(3) The provisions of subsection (1) (b) shall commence after the current life of the State House of Assembly and shall be reviewed after 16 years from its commencement notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution.

Provided that a House of Assembly of a State shall consist of not less than twenty-four and not more than forty-three members.”

6. Alteration of Section 117
Section 117 of the Principal Act is altered in subsection (1) by inserting immediately after the words “every State constituency” in line 1, the words “and the additional seats”–

“117. Direct election and franchise
Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, every State constituency and the additional seats established in accordance with the provisions of this part of this Chapter shall return one member who shall be directly elected to a House of Assembly in such manner as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly.”

My respected Colleagues, Women has only 4.4% percent representation in the 9th National Assembly, you may wish to note that Nigeria has been identified as the worst performer in women representation in parliaments, in the West African region and one of the lowest in the whole of Africa. This is evidenced in the most recent Inter-parliamentary Union (IPU) ranking of women in parliaments where Nigeria ranks 179 out of 187 Countries Worldwide. Eritrea is the only African Country ranked lower than Nigeria and this is because there have not been national elections since its independence in 1993. The situation is worse at the States Houses of Assembly level, where a good number of our States do not have a single woman in their State Assembly. In some of these States, men chair the Women Affairs Committee because there is no woman available to take the role.

Currently more than 130 Countries have adopted some type of special measure (or quota system) to address women’s under-representation. Over 75 percent of these cases were introduced in the last 20 years – particularly since 2000. Strikingly, the majority of Nations that have adopted special measures/quota systems are low or middle-income countries – many of them in Africa. A very good example is South Africa, where the introduction of quotas in the 1994 election by the African National Congress (ANC) party resulted in 27% of women in their very first democratic election. Currently South Africa has 46.5% of women in their lower chamber and is one of the top ten Countries for women in parliament. Rwanda is the world leader in women’s political participation with 49% of women in their lower chamber. This followed from deliberate constitutional efforts taken to include women in government to foster re-building of the Country post-genocide in 2003.

Even conservative countries are beginning to realise the usefulness of political inclusion of women. For instance, women in countries such as Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco, the State of Palestine and Tunisia have successfully lobbied for the introduction of various measures, such as electoral quotas, to increase and strengthen women’s political representation. Between 2010 and 2017, the majority of countries in the Arab region have seen an increase in the representation of women in their parliament. In 2013, it may also interest you to note that for the first time, 30 women were appointed to Saudi Arabia’s Shura Council (advisory body), representing 20 per cent of seats as of 2021. In Algeria, the proportion of female members of parliament (MPs) tripled, from 8% to 32% in line with a quota introduced in 2012. In Afghanistan, women now make up about 27 percent of the upper and lower houses of parliament and were active in drafting the country’s new constitution. This was facilitated by a male President who signed and supported declarations of women’s rights and in 2005 appointed the first female governor. Our West African neighbour, Senegal, adopted a parity law in their Constitution in 2012. This was facilitated by then President, Abdoulaye Wade and resulted to an almost 50-50 balance between men and women in the Senegalese Parliament. Nigerian women are not even asking for 50-50 but 35% which is what is indicated in our National Gender Policy and several international Treaties that we are signatory to. The number is identified as the “critical mass/number” of women required to achieve impactful results.

Mr. Speaker, my respected Colleagues, I would like emphasis that women’s inclusion in politics is not just a women or human rights issue, but also an issue of reflecting our history and traditions in our governance process, and I truly believe that this Bill has potential for improving women’s political representation, therefore I urge all my respected Colleagues to support that the Bill be read for the Second Time and committed to the Ad-Hoc Committee on the Review of the Constitution for further Legislative action.

Thank you.

Rt.Hon [Barr] Nkeiruka Onyejeocha
[Sponsor of Bill]
Deputy Chief Whip
House of Representatives
Federal Republic of Nigeria

Download this to learn more: https://placng.org/i/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Special-Seats-for-Women-in-the-Nigerian-Legislature.pdf

FreeStuffsNG:
Hmmm. I am not getting this back and forth on how we hope to create a meritocratic system if we legislate a law that seem to be a tokenism compared to what a woman can achieve if she competes and collaborates on a level playing field.

Instead of creating a top heavy system that increase the cost of governance, why not direct the resource to make law for special fund for the girl-child and give revolving loans to women,especially widows.

In my opinion, the cheapest way to end poverty is to give quality education to the girl-child so she doesn't go into early marriage, have unspaced multiple children and can add economic and human resource value more than the girl child is currently able to achieve in our nation.

The empowerment of the women impacts the children more as children depend more on their mothers. If she's given a revolving loan through cooperatives, she can pay back overtime and sooner have some cash left to save and invest after meeting basic needs.

Sincerely the proposed law is elitist and just a fresh attempt to create more political 'jobs for the girls' in a way that increase the burden on the poor women indirectly because what should be given to empower her economically ends up supporting female politicians who, in my opinion, are not particularly spectacular (like most of their male politicians) if one recounts the mind boggling corruption cases of notable female politicians like Senator Stella Oduah, Mrs Nenadi Usman , Mrs Diezani etc.

Thank you. Very soon, they'll soon start sponsoring ridiculous bills that only empowers the female gender at the expense of the males. We should tread very carefully o.

Seun you are talking of equal representation

Does this not make you an hypocrite

Is this forum equally represented in same privilege

I read only the first few lines and the BILL MUST BE SHOT DOWN at the earliest opportunity.

We are crying about the high cost of managing the National Assembly, an arm of Government whose salaries and emoluments are shielded in topmost secrecy.

We cannot embark on adding 3 more National Assembly members per State........Impossicant.

Nonsense bill

As a feminist I don't support this bill. Our female folks should be allowed to contest with the male counterpart on equals ground of free fair and credible elections.

All the National assembly members should please getat, if they don't have any reasonable bills to push for the welfare of the masses.

They are looking for opportunities to bring there wives/mistresses onboard as if the parliament is there family business.

As long as these women will perform their duties well as legislators and not go there to loot, I am okay with the bill. Look at the Scandinavian countries. They are doing well and many of their politicians are women. Countries who oppress women rarely do well. Why do you think Nigeria and many African countries are a mess?

This is backwardness packaged as progress.
Not even the most woke country has such a law because it is illogical, impractical and unconstitutional.

Are they just going to carve out a territory in each state and tell the inhabitants that they can only be represented by women?

How do you justify denying half of the populace from representing a particular set of people?

This is even worse than quota system because no group is explicitly banned under the quota system.
We either run a democracy or we don't.

dasparrow:
As long as these women will perform their duties well as legislators and not go there to loot, I am okay with the bill. Look at the Scandinavian countries. They are doing well and many of their politicians are women. Countries who oppress women rarely do well. Why do you think Nigeria and many African countries are a mess?

There is no law forcing the women into political positions.
Those women got there by competing like everybody else.

"I do not collect financial favours to misconstrue news or promote agendas of any sort." Yeah, right.

This is a very backward, mediocrity fueling, irresponsible, silly, gender biased, national resource wasting and unmeritocratic bill.

These are the dangers of feminism we've been speaking against. How does a sensible person wake-up and just suggest women should be gifted free seats in a parliamentary arm of government just because they have vaginas?
Did she not get in there as a woman or did she disguise as a man to be given the seat she currently holds to have come up with this nonsensical bill? Why cant her fellow women also fight to win elections to get seats like their female mates do in other countries?

I always say it that modern Black women are the most entitled and irresponsible. They love handouts and are lazier than their grand mothers generations. We keep telling you simp and weak men that feminism isnt about equality, they want to take over everything and kick men out of their positions and most times will use simps to do the dirty job. You men are not waking up.

Asides that no extra expenses must be tolerated in government. This bill is the most uselessly thought up bill in recent times.
This is the reason ancient great empires never allowed women an inch in government. Give them an inch and theyd want to run the while mile destroying the balance created in society.

Foolish and weak men will always be their tool to do this.

It is haram for women to rule over men or talk where men are..



Seun I will pay #5 billion to buy Nairaland , what ya say?

More quota system when we should be heading for meritocracy.

This shows you these people are just catching cruise in the NASS. Instead if reducing current abohorent over-heads, they want to create more seats for women.

Another opportunity for the godfathers to kpekus people's wives.

The lies you people tell yourselves is unbelievable. Scandinavian countries are doing well because they have many women leaders?
That is just silly.

How many women leaders does China have?
How many women leaders does America have?

Instead of pushing the national assembly on the restructuring of Nigeria you people are there helping them to chase shadows by supporting bills that would not help our country.

It's a shame.

dasparrow:
As long as these women will perform their duties well as legislators and not go there to loot, I am okay with the bill. Look at the Scandinavian countries. They are doing well and many of their politicians are women. Countries who oppress women rarely do well. Why do you think Nigeria and many African countries are a mess?

Nigeria my country.

I know the men who occupy majority of those seats also contested and won. Everybody should be given fair chance to vie for position.

It shouldn't just be given for free.

Restructure the country, create more employment and empowerment opportunities for everyone irrespective of gender.

dasparrow:
As long as these women will perform their duties well as legislators and not go there to loot, I am okay with the bill. Look at the Scandinavian countries. They are doing well and many of their politicians are women. Countries who oppress women rarely do well. Why do you think Nigeria and many African countries are a mess?

I don't think it will have any effect, because these special seats for women will not be able to challenge the existing 360+ seats in the NASS.
Remember everything is by votes.

They don't want to compete with men and they won't stop talking about equality, women will continue blackmailing men to get what they want because there can never be equality between the 2 gender

Seun:
DETAILS ON BILL TO CREATE ADDITIONAL SPECIAL SEATS FOR WOMEN IN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, STATE HOUSES OF ASSEMBLY

Mr. Speaker, Honourable Colleagues, permit me to lead the debate on the general principles on A Bill for An Act to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to create additional special seats for Women in the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly. You would recall that the Bill was read for the first time on Thursday 22nd April, 2021 in this hallowed Chamber

Mr. Speaker, my respected Colleagues, this bill seeks to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 to remedy the low representation of women in Legislative Houses by providing for the creation of additional separate seats to be contested and filled by only women in the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly as a temporary measure to promote women’s representation. The provision is subjected to a review after four general election cycles of sixteen years for the purpose of either retaining, increasing, or abolishing the temporary measure

The Bill is comprised of six major clauses that seeks to alter Sections 48; 49; 71; 77; 91; and 117 as set out below-

1. Alteration of Section 48
Section 48 of the Principal Act is altered by substituting the existing section 48 with a new section “48” –

“48. Composition of the Senate
(1) The Senate shall consist of:

(a) three Senators from each State and one from the Federal Capital Territory; and

(b) an additional Senator for each State and for the Federal Capital Territory, who shall be a woman.

(2) Notwithstanding the provision of subsection (1) of this section, nothing shall prevent a woman from contesting for any of the senatorial seats referred to in subsection (1) (a).

(3) The provisions of subsection (1) (b) shall commence after the current life of the National Assembly and shall be reviewed after 16 years from its commencement notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution.”

2. Alteration of Section 49
Section 49 of the Principal Act is altered by substituting the existing section 49 with a new section “49” –

“49. Composition of the House of Representatives
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the House of Representatives shall consist of:
(a) three hundred and sixty members representing constituencies of nearly equal population as far as possible, provided that no constituency shall fall within more than one State; and

(b) two additional members for each State and for the Federal Capital Territory, who shall be women.

(2) Notwithstanding the provision of subsection (1) of this section, nothing shall prevent a woman from contesting for any of the seats in the constituencies referred to in subsection (1)(a).

(3) The provisions of subsection (1) (b) shall commence after the current life of the National Assembly and shall be reviewed after 16 years from its commencement notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution.

3. Alteration of Section 71
Section 71 of the Principal Act is altered by inserting immediately after sub-sections (1) (a) and (b), new subsections “(2)” and “(3)” –

71. Senatorial districts and Federal constituencies
(1) Subject to the provisions of section 72 of this Constitution, the Independent National Electoral Commission shall –

(a) divide each State of the Federation into three Senatorial districts for purposes of elections to the Senate;

(b) subject to the provisions of section 49 of this Constitution, divide the Federation into three hundred and sixty Federal constituencies for purposes of elections to the House of Representatives.

(2) For the purpose of section 48 of this Constitution, a State shall constitute an additional senatorial seat to be occupied by a woman.

(3) For the purpose of section 49 of this Constitution, the Independent National Electoral Commission shall divide each State of the Federation into two Federal constituencies to be occupied by women.

4. Alteration of Section 77
Section 77 of the Principal Act is altered in subsection (1) by substituting the words “every Senatorial district or Federal constituency” in lines 1 and 2 with the words “every Senatorial district, Federal constituency and the additional seats”–

“77. Direct election and franchise
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, every Senatorial district, Federal constituency and the additional seats established in accordance with the provisions of this Part of this Chapter shall return one member who shall be directly elected to the Senate or the House of Representatives in such manner as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly.”

5. Alteration of Section 91
Section 91 of the Principal Act is altered by substituting the existing section 91 with a new section “91” –

“91. Composition of the House of Assembly
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, a House of Assembly of a State shall consist of:
(a) three or four times the number of seats, which that State has in the House of Representatives divided in a way to reflect, as far as possible, nearly equal population; and

(b) one additional member from each of the three senatorial districts in the State referred to in section 48 (1) (a) of this Constitution, who shall be a woman.

(2) Notwithstanding the provision of subsection (1) of this section, nothing shall prevent a woman from contesting for any of the seats in the constituencies referred to in subsection (1)(a)

(3) The provisions of subsection (1) (b) shall commence after the current life of the State House of Assembly and shall be reviewed after 16 years from its commencement notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution.

Provided that a House of Assembly of a State shall consist of not less than twenty-four and not more than forty-three members.”

6. Alteration of Section 117
Section 117 of the Principal Act is altered in subsection (1) by inserting immediately after the words “every State constituency” in line 1, the words “and the additional seats”–

“117. Direct election and franchise
Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, every State constituency and the additional seats established in accordance with the provisions of this part of this Chapter shall return one member who shall be directly elected to a House of Assembly in such manner as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly.”

My respected Colleagues, Women has only 4.4% percent representation in the 9th National Assembly, you may wish to note that Nigeria has been identified as the worst performer in women representation in parliaments, in the West African region and one of the lowest in the whole of Africa. This is evidenced in the most recent Inter-parliamentary Union (IPU) ranking of women in parliaments where Nigeria ranks 179 out of 187 Countries Worldwide. Eritrea is the only African Country ranked lower than Nigeria and this is because there have not been national elections since its independence in 1993. The situation is worse at the States Houses of Assembly level, where a good number of our States do not have a single woman in their State Assembly. In some of these States, men chair the Women Affairs Committee because there is no woman available to take the role.

Currently more than 130 Countries have adopted some type of special measure (or quota system) to address women’s under-representation. Over 75 percent of these cases were introduced in the last 20 years – particularly since 2000. Strikingly, the majority of Nations that have adopted special measures/quota systems are low or middle-income countries – many of them in Africa. A very good example is South Africa, where the introduction of quotas in the 1994 election by the African National Congress (ANC) party resulted in 27% of women in their very first democratic election. Currently South Africa has 46.5% of women in their lower chamber and is one of the top ten Countries for women in parliament. Rwanda is the world leader in women’s political participation with 49% of women in their lower chamber. This followed from deliberate constitutional efforts taken to include women in government to foster re-building of the Country post-genocide in 2003.

Even conservative countries are beginning to realise the usefulness of political inclusion of women. For instance, women in countries such as Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco, the State of Palestine and Tunisia have successfully lobbied for the introduction of various measures, such as electoral quotas, to increase and strengthen women’s political representation. Between 2010 and 2017, the majority of countries in the Arab region have seen an increase in the representation of women in their parliament. In 2013, it may also interest you to note that for the first time, 30 women were appointed to Saudi Arabia’s Shura Council (advisory body), representing 20 per cent of seats as of 2021. In Algeria, the proportion of female members of parliament (MPs) tripled, from 8% to 32% in line with a quota introduced in 2012. In Afghanistan, women now make up about 27 percent of the upper and lower houses of parliament and were active in drafting the country’s new constitution. This was facilitated by a male President who signed and supported declarations of women’s rights and in 2005 appointed the first female governor. Our West African neighbour, Senegal, adopted a parity law in their Constitution in 2012. This was facilitated by then President, Abdoulaye Wade and resulted to an almost 50-50 balance between men and women in the Senegalese Parliament. Nigerian women are not even asking for 50-50 but 35% which is what is indicated in our National Gender Policy and several international Treaties that we are signatory to. The number is identified as the “critical mass/number” of women required to achieve impactful results.

Mr. Speaker, my respected Colleagues, I would like emphasis that women’s inclusion in politics is not just a women or human rights issue, but also an issue of reflecting our history and traditions in our governance process, and I truly believe that this Bill has potential for improving women’s political representation, therefore I urge all my respected Colleagues to support that the Bill be read for the Second Time and committed to the Ad-Hoc Committee on the Review of the Constitution for further Legislative action.

Thank you.

Rt.Hon [Barr] Nkeiruka Onyejeocha
[Sponsor of Bill]
Deputy Chief Whip
House of Representatives
Federal Republic of Nigeria

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,,,... ...............Another crisis is looming in ikorodu if not averted immediately,the oil bunkry activities that caused many people's life in ishawo, igbo-olomu, imagbon axis in recent years if not for the intervention of federal government as started again.This is the only means I believe I can talk to the authority because the matter can't be report to the military or the police because they are both involve in the illegal activities .The oil bunkry has started again while they carry this activity with the help of the Nigeria military that was supposed to protect the pipeline and the community.If you want to know about this ,try to come to a community called pakisha where there's high number of hoodlums.people are now selling the petrol in jerican and kegs on the street,I would have love to call the CDA chairmen to order but some of them are involve in the illegal business..please help us reach out to the authority to help us out not to experience another lost of life and property,this matter has been reported to IGP Special Tactical ayetoro under the command of Superintendent Toyin Omosebi but nothing has been done has we later discovered there involvement in the illegal vandalization business.