To increase representation and participation of women in political positions especially in the senate, House of Assembly and House of Representatives, a campaign for the passage of the Reserved Seats for Women Bill has been launched.

Led by the Chief Executive Officer of TOS Group, Osasu Ogwuche, the bill which was sponsored by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, “seeks to guarantee a minimum number of legislative seats for women in the National and State Assemblies, one seat per state in the House of Representatives and the senate, and three additional seats in each State Assembly.”

According to her, “it is a necessary correction to decades of political exclusion. The campaign is rooted in fairness and justice to close the glaring gender gap in governance and emphasises the economic and social dividends of inclusive leadership.

“Today, women make up less than four per cent of lawmakers in the National Assembly, that is 18 out of 469 parliamentarians in a country where women are half of the population. The number is heartbreaking.”

Ogwuche explained that unlike the previous five gender bills that were thrown out of the National Assembly, the reserved seats bill is a corrective policy to address deep-rooted structural barriers that have excluded Nigerian women from formal political leadership for decades.

“This is not a women’s issue; it’s a national development crisis. We cannot afford to exclude half our population from making decisions that affect us all because when women lead, nations rise. We’ve seen it in Rwanda, in Norway and we can see it in Nigeria too because this is a chance to redefine Nigeria’s democracy,” she insisted.

The conveners said that Nigeria cannot afford to exclude half its population from making decisions that affect all.

According to them, Nigeria ranks 125th out of 146 countries on the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index of 2023 and that only 10 per cent of landowners in Nigeria are women, despite equal legal access to land. Also, women represent just seven per cent of CEOs and 23 per cent of senior management in companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Chief Executive Officer, Connect Development, (CODE), Hamzat Lawal, pointed that the bill is about justice and fairness for women and not just tokenism or handouts.
Lawal noted that Nigerian women deserve to take their rightful places at not just political offices but also appointive positions in governance. While Special Assistant to the Deputy Speaker on Youth and Women Affairs, Joy Aku, noted that the coalition has embarked on advocacy to traditional and religious leaders on the importance of women in political leadership positions to the development and wellbeing of society.

The conveners have also called on the media to support the campaign towards passage of the reserved seats for women for overall national development.