With Just 4% in Parliament, Coalition Pushes for Reserved Seats for Women Bill

Emmanuel Addeh and Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The Chief Executive Officer of TOS Foundation Africa and Convener of the ‘Reserved Seats for Women Bill’ Campaign Coalition, Osasu Igbinedion Ogwuche, has renewed calls for the accelerated passage of the legislative proposal.

The activist, who spoke at a conference with editors in Abuja, said the bill has often been misunderstood and wrongly framed as a gender-based agenda, cautioning that failure to act swiftly could delay its implementation until after the 2027 general elections.

According to Igbinedion Ogwuche, the bill seeks to create 74 additional seats in the National Assembly and 108 seats across the 36 state Houses of Assembly to improve women’s participation in governance. She noted that Nigeria currently ranks last in Africa in women’s parliamentary representation.

She explained that only 16 of the 360 members of the House of Representatives are women, while the Senate has just four women out of 109 members. Across the 36 state assemblies, she said, only 51 of 993 lawmakers are women.

Painting a grim picture of women participation in Nigerian politics, she argued that poor female representation has real consequences for policymaking, citing that similar proposals failed in the 8th and 9th National Assemblies, largely due to resistance framed around religion and culture.

“The bill for reserved seats for women is currently on the floor of the National Assembly. We are at third reading, a very critical stage that either makes or breaks the bill. What the bill is seeking to do, for those who are not aware, is to add additional seats, 74 additional seats to the National Assembly, and 108 additional seats across the 36 state assemblies.

“ The level of women’s participation in politics in Nigeria is very poor. In Africa, we rank 54 out of 54, the very bottom of the barrel. Women make up 50 per cent of Nigeria’s population, but unfortunately assume only 4 per cent of seats in Parliament. That is 16 out of 360 members in the House of Representatives are women, and only four out of 109 senators are women. Across the 36 state assemblies, you have only 51 out of 993 members who are women.

“In some state assemblies, over 16 of them, you have no women at all. I always reference this and laugh, but it’s actually not a funny matter. In Jigawa State, the chairperson of the Women Affairs Committee is a man. So, we have a lot of work to do. We call ourselves the giants of Africa, but our politics, our governance, is not reflective of that. We cannot legislate for a people without them on the table,” she argued.

According to her, lessons from the failures of the past informed a new strategy built on extensive consultation, adding that the coalition engaged stakeholders across the six geopolitical zones, states, local governments and wards.

“This time around, what have we done differently? We gathered the feedback of all key stakeholders from the 8th and the 9th Assembly, and they said we didn’t consult enough. So this time, we have consulted far and wide.

“We have got the vocal assent of the President, who on December 19th, just last year, said he is in full support of the bill. We have gotten the support of the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Senate President, which TOS Foundation Africa led a delegation to, and over 50 Senators who were present that day. We have got the support of the Speaker of the House of Representatives,” the TOS Foundation chief executive stated.

She disclosed that the bill has received high-level political backing, clarifying that the reserved seats would be contested through elections and will not be by  appointments.

“This is not tokenism. It is not a handout. APC will bring out candidates, other political parties will bring out candidates, and women will compete among themselves,” she stressed.