Civil society organisations (CSOs) and development partners have begun forging a common advocacy position on the proposed Electoral College model for the Women’s Special Seats Bill, as the National Assembly prepares to consider the revised constitutional amendment aimed at increasing women’s representation in elective offices.

The stakeholders converged in Abuja on Thursday at a high-level roundtable organised by the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) with support from the European Union (EU) to critically examine the implications of the National Assembly’s proposed shift from direct elections to an indirect Electoral College system for electing beneficiaries of the Special Seats Bill.

The meeting formed part of preparations ahead of the National Assembly Open Week, where constitutional reform proposals, including the Women’s Special Seats Bill, are expected to receive renewed attention.

Participants agreed that while the proposed Electoral College model presents new questions around transparency, accountability and democratic legitimacy, it also provides an opportunity for civil society to shape the final design of the legislation and sustain momentum for women’s political inclusion.

Speaking at the roundtable, Executive Director of PLAC and Lead Technical Adviser to the House of Representatives Committee on Constitution Review, Mr. Clement Nwankwo, said the revised proposal emerged after extensive engagements with lawmakers, particularly members of the Senate, who expressed reservations about electing the additional women legislators through direct elections.

According to him, the Senate proposed an Electoral College as an alternative mechanism capable of securing broader legislative support for the bill.

“The proposal is something that a lot of us are not familiar with, and many of us are not entirely comfortable with it. But it is something we need to discuss as stakeholders to determine whether it is the kind of compromise that can still deliver the objective we all seek,” Nwankwo said.

He explained that the revised bill retains the objective of increasing women’s representation in legislative institutions but changes the election mechanism for the additional seats.

Under the proposal, he said, women seeking the special seats would be nominated by political parties and elected by an Electoral College made up of governors, senators, members of the House of Representatives and elected local government officials from each geopolitical zone.

Nwankwo acknowledged that concerns remain over the possibility of dominant political parties determining outcomes but stressed that such issues should inform stakeholder recommendations rather than derail the broader reform.

“If a geopolitical zone is largely controlled by one political party, you can already anticipate the likely outcome. Those are some of the issues we must interrogate as stakeholders,” he said.

He disclosed that the proposed amendment provides for 12 additional Senate seats for women—two from each geopolitical zone—37 additional seats in the House of Representatives, including one for the Federal Capital Territory, and 108 additional seats across State Houses of Assembly. The bill also retains a 16-year sunset clause, making the arrangement temporary unless renewed.

Nwankwo further noted that the proposal has continued to attract strong support from the Speaker of the House of Representatives, international development partners and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), while members of the National Assembly had also undertaken a study visit to Kenya to examine comparative affirmative action models.

Providing legislative context, the Special Adviser to the Deputy Speaker on Youth and Women Affairs, Ms Joy Akut, a constitutional review consultant working with the National Assembly, said stakeholders should focus on the purpose of the reform rather than the change in methodology.

“What has changed is the mechanism, not the mission,” she said.

“The objective of the Special Seats Bill remains exactly the same, to expand women’s representation through a temporary constitutional measure that strengthens our democracy.”

She noted that although concerns around transparency, accountability and elite capture are legitimate, similar challenges already exist within Nigeria’s electoral system.

“We only need to look at what happened during recent party primaries to know that these concerns are not unique to the Electoral College model. The challenge before us is to ensure that whatever model is adopted works effectively.”

Akut maintained that Nigeria could no longer afford to exclude women from legislative decision-making.

“Nigeria cannot continue to exclude half of its population from legislative decision-making while expecting the best governance outcomes. This is about strengthening our democracy.”

Delivering a comparative analysis of indirect electoral systems, the Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER)  Professor Antonia Okoosi-Simbine, said Electoral College systems have successfully operated in several democracies, including the United States, India, Germany and Pakistan.

Okoosi-Simbine who is a  former National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), explained that an Electoral College is an institutionalised body of designated electors established by law to perform specific electoral functions.

According to her, the success of such systems depends largely on their composition and the legal safeguards built around them.

“The composition of the body is a very powerful design lever,” she said.

“How we constitute the Electoral College will largely determine whether Nigerians perceive it as transparent, representative and credible.”

Okoosi-Simbine observed that countries which have achieved higher levels of women’s representation deliberately introduced constitutional mechanisms tailored to their political realities.

She cited Rwanda, Uganda, Morocco and Mauritania as examples where affirmative measures had significantly improved women’s participation in Parliament.

“If Nigeria decides to adopt the Electoral College route, we are not doing something unusual. The important thing is ensuring that it is carefully designed to achieve the desired outcome.”

She, however, stressed the need for extensive civic education because the concept remains unfamiliar to many Nigerians.

Discussions during the roundtable also focused on ensuring that women elected through the proposed Electoral College remain accountable to citizens and are not merely answerable to political elites who may constitute the Electoral College.

Participants called for clear legal safeguards to prevent political godfathers, party leaders and influential office holders from dominating the nomination and election process.

Responding to concerns raised by participants, Nwankwo clarified that many operational details would be addressed through subsequent amendments to the Electoral Act if the constitutional amendment succeeds.

He urged civil society organisations to remain actively engaged throughout both legislative processes.

“Our responsibility is to interrogate this proposal, identify the gaps and make recommendations that strengthen the final legislation,” he said.

Also speaking, the Programme Manager at PLAC,  Nkiru Uzodi, said the advocacy for increased women’s representation would continue beyond the current constitutional amendment process.

She said the roundtable was part of a broader strategy to harmonise civil society positions before engaging lawmakers during the forthcoming National Assembly Open Week.

“We are looking at the emerging proposal, discussing engagement strategies ahead of the National Assembly Open Week and sustaining the momentum behind this bill because women’s representation in our legislature remains extremely low,” Sodi said.

She described the campaign as a long-term struggle.

“This is a marathon, not a sprint. We have been advocating for this through previous assemblies and we are not going to give up. Nigeria should expect continued engagement from civil society until we achieve greater inclusion of women in governance.”

By the close of the meeting, participants agreed to continue consultations and refine recommendations that would be presented to lawmakers as the constitutional amendment process progresses.

The consensus was that while the Electoral College proposal introduces a new dimension to the Women’s Special Seats Bill, it also presents an opportunity for civil society to shape a framework that balances political realities with the overarching goal of improving women’s representation in Nigeria’s legislatures.