From David Onuoja, Abuja
A coalition of Nigerian Women, who have representation across the 360 Constituencies, 774 Local Governments, and 36 States of Nigeria; have called on the National Assembly to as a matter of urgency pass the Special Seats for Women bill before them, without further delay in order to give Women the right of participation in the political governance in the Country.
Speaking during their protest at the gate of the National Assembly, Abuja today, led by the President, League of Women Voters of Nigeria, Irene Awunah-Ikyegh, said they are at the National Assembly to formally submit all the petitions that have been collected across the 36 States in Nigeria.
She added that, “three weeks ago, we went to every constituency office and houses of the representative members to submit a petition, demanding an immediate passage of the Special Seats for Women bill.
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According to her, “some honorable members received these petitions by themselves, others were submitted in their absence and we couldn’t reach others and this is the reason why we decided to come here today having known that they have formally resumed to submit all the remaining copies of the petitions and acknowledgement copies of those that were received.
“We demand for the passage of the Special Seats for Women bill in order to enhance inclusive governance in Nigeria.
“We, the undersigned Citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria do hereby, bring to your attention, as Members of the National Assembly to as a matter of urgent public importance, and respectfully submit this petition for your immediate action especially as the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended guarantees a right to freedom from discrimination and rights to participation in governance of one’s country.
“Nigerian Women constitute approximately half of the nation’s population and we play a critical role in the social economic and political development of our communities and our nation nigeria whereas despite the numeric strengths and the vital contributions, women remain severally underrepresented in all tiers of government from the national assembly, executive to the state houses of assembly and the local government.
“However, the representation of women as of today is often hovering around less than five percent elected position, one of the lowest in Africa whereas this gross, under representation constitutes a fundamental discrimination and democratic deficits depriving our population, good governance systems of diverse perspective inclusive policies and equitable solutions distributions of our resources”, she stated.
The special bill for women which seeks to address the systematic imbalance by positioning additional seats for women in National Assembly and State Assemblies, she said, is a mechanism if successfully adopted by the National Assembly, “will put us at par with countries like rewanda, South Africa, Kenya, and Uganda to accelerate women’s political inclusion.
“The ninth and tenth Assemblies previously considered similar constitutional amendment, aimed at creating special seats for women but they failed to secure required constitutional mandate due to lack of political will, therefore, we are once again calling on the NASS to champion this activity in ensuring that they vote swiftly for the political amendment bill passage, of the special seats bill for women.
“All what we want as our specific demands, is: mobilize all your colleagues and ensure that the bill gets majority vote at the house of Representative and Senate in favor of it and reject any motion opposing it.
“We ask that you vote in favor of this bill when subjected to voting on the floor of the house and Senate. We remain loyal constituents and we are hopeful that you will be a champion of this bill for the inclusion of our democracy and a just nation where every Nigerian will have the rights to be represented in the National Assembly, both Male and Female”, the President averred.
