Proposed Nigerian law will boost women’s participation in governance
Gender experts, educators, and policymakers have urged the National Assembly to pass the bill that seeks to reserve some seats for women in the National Assembly.
In a video posted on YouTube on Thursday by the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), experts from diverse fields discussed the barriers to implementing the bill and its potential to shape the future of women’s political representation in Nigeria.
Titled, “A bill for an act to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to provide for seat reservation for women in the National and State Houses of Assembly; and for related matters,” the proposed legislation is one of the most ambitious attempts yet to correct the imbalance in women’s political representation.
In Africa’s most populous country, women make up less than five per cent of the country’s lawmakers. Currently, in the 10th National Assembly, female lawmakers occupy only four of the 109 Senate seats (2.7 per cent) and 16 of the 360 seats in the House of Representatives (4.4 per cent), bringing the total female representation in the 469-member Assembly to just 4.2 per cent. At the state levels, only 54 women serve across 990 seats in State Houses of Assembly, and 15 states have no female legislators.
Awareness
In his opening remarks, Clement Nwankwo, the executive director of PLAC, said a lot of people, including members of the parliament, are not fully aware of the intricacies of the proposed legislation.
Mr Nwankwo noted that PLAC, alongside other organisations, is working on the bill “to create big awareness and get it passed.”
He said he spoke to a senator who was strongly opposed to the bill, and at the end of the conversation, the latter had commented, “This is not a bill anyone should object to. This is a bill we should ask ourselves what the modalities will be.”
Why Nigeria needs the bill
Drude Dahlerup, an international expert on electoral quotas, spoke on how to make special seats work and why the special temporary measure is needed in Nigeria.
Ms Dahlerup said the measure is a way to jump over the historical barriers that prevent a woman from being included in political decision-making.
The political science professor asked why Nigerian women are underrepresented, adding that the question seems easy, but it is a complex one.
She mentioned that violence against women, patriarchal culture, prejudice against women, hate speech, and other issues are the challenges fueling the underrepresentation of women at the political table.
She underscored the importance of focusing on political parties, as they serve as the gatekeepers controlling nominations.
The professor acknowledged that there are “structural barriers in society that are prejudiced against women, but unfortunately, political parties share those prejudices.”
“Men predominantly recruit other men. We call it the ‘old boys network.’”
She praised the Labour Party for its significant role, noting its initiative of offering free nomination tickets to women in previous elections.
Election expenses
Election expenses pose a significant barrier, effectively excluding women, young people, and persons with disabilities from seeking and competing for elective offices. This has been a critical and ongoing concern in electoral processes. Nigerian political parties have developed a pattern of demanding exorbitant fees for their nomination and expression of interest forms.
Critics argue that the charges are out of touch with the current realities in the country, particularly given the widespread poverty and high cost of living in Nigeria.
For instance, in the 2023 general elections, major political parties pegged their expression of interest and nomination forms at a high rate, despite the country’s minimum wage being N30,000 at the time. The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) fixed the cost of nomination forms for the presidential seats at N100 million, governorship at N50 million, Senate at N20 million, House of Representatives at N10 million, and State Assembly at N2 million.
The leading opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), pegged N40 million as the cost for presidential nomination forms, N21 million for governorship, N3.5 million for Senate, N2.5 million for House of Representatives, and N1.5 million for State House of Assembly.
While the two main political parties offered concessions, including exemptions from nomination fees for women and a 50 per cent discount for young aspirants, all aspirants were still required to pay additional administrative and state secretariat fees before their nomination forms could be processed. Unfortunately, these pre-primary expenses represent a small fraction of the cost of politics.
Ms Dahlerup noted that her conclusion in a report from the Inter-Parliamentary Union in 2021 shows that “political parties do not nominate women; they nominate very few women.”
She said countries that rank high have a temporary special measure that improves women’s representation, adding that the bill will no doubt be effective.
She noted that more countries now employ some form of gender quota, with constitutionally reserved seats proving to be a particularly effective model in patriarchal societies.
Speaking specifically about how to make special seats work for women, Ms Dahlerup said it is important to give women an independent voice.
“If you don’t give women special seats, it might increase the power of the biggest party, which will most likely win the majority of the new seats,” she said.
“They will probably conquer most of the seats.”
She cited that in Morocco, it was the biggest party that got most of the seats at the beginning.
The risk, she said, is that the political party stopped nominating women for unreserved constituency seats.
She noted that the women’s movement must emphasise that the additional seats set aside for women do not mean women will not contest unreserved constituency seats, especially in a temporary system.
On her part, Joy Ezeilo, a law professor, noted that she has been working closely with the parliament since 2012, and it has been a herculean task trying to achieve constitutional inclusion that aligns with the international treaties Nigeria is obligated to implement.
“Nigeria is seriously lagging within the African continent,” Ms Ezeilo, a consultant to the National Assembly on constitutional review, said.
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She noted that effective legislative and social advocacy have brought the bill this far.
Earlier in her goodwill remarks, Kareen Jabre, a director of the division of programmes at the IPU, who gave a goodwill message, said as far back as 1975, the IPU began documenting the participation of women in national parliament as a means to raise awareness, recognising that true democracy is only possible if both men and women work together.
Ms Jabre said that quotas and reserved seats are key to reversing the historical underrepresentation of women in countries.
She insisted that they must be seen as part of a broader strategy to empower women in political life.