Deputy speaker, House of Representatives, Hon Benjamin Kalu, has assured Nigerians that the ongoing constitution review by the 10th National Assembly would address the issue of gender imbalance in the country.
The deputy speaker who is also the chairman, House Committee on Constitution Review, gave the assurance while speaking at the ongoing Roundtable on Women Inclusion in Politics, organised by Policy and Legal Advocacy Center (PLAC), Yiaga Africa, Nigeria Women Trust Fund, ElectHer and the European Union (EU) in Abuja.
Kalu lamented the poor participation of women in Nigerian politics, saying, countries like Rwanda had implemented a constitutional provision mandating at least 30% of parliamentary seats be reserved for women.
He stressed that the impact has been profound with women now holding an unparalleled 61.3% of seats in the lower House of parliament in Rwanda.
According to the deputy speaker, the figure stood at 4% of women holding seats in the House of Representatives and 3.6 percent in the Senate in Nigeria’s National Assembly.
He added that reservation of seats and adoption of electoral quotas for women would greatly increase the ranking of Nigeria amongst the comity of nations.
Kalu however said with the ongoing constitution review exercise and the ‘body language’ of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the inclusion of the Nigerian women in politics will be realised.
He said: “What you are stating is the fact, the comparative analyses were not manipulated. I read a few prepared by PLAC a few minutes ago.
The Giant of Africa is the least on the list of women participation in politics. It is not good at all.
“Does the President (Tinubu) know this? Yes. Is he in support of such exclusion? No. Is he willing to take it to the next level? Yes. Are there evidence to show that he believes in that, or is his body language towards that? Yes. Check and you will find out that the First Lady was supported by him to be in the parliament for a very long time. He was also in the Parliament. He understands what you are talking about.
“The Vice President was in the Parliament. The Chief of Staff to the President was in the Parliament. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation was in the Parliament; and I’m happy to announce that his wife is with us in the House of Representatives.
“Why am I making these references? I make these references to encourage you that the body language of the current administration is to the fact that we want more women in politics and a friend of mine supported his wife and the wife is here and she is in the Parliament so members of the House Representatives are supporting their wives to be in the Parliament. Members of the House of Representatives are also marrying women who are in Parliament.”
