Constitution review: Women voters intensify campaign for special seats bill

Women voters across the country have stepped up advocacy for the Special Seats Bill currently before the National Assembly as part of the ongoing amendment of the 1999 Constitution.

The proposed legislation seeks to create additional legislative seats exclusively for women in the Senate, the House of Representatives, and state Houses of Assembly to boost female representation in governance.

If passed, the bill will create 12 additional seats in the Senate and 37 additional seats in the House of Representatives, all to be contested by women. The proposal would increase the number of senators from 109 to 121 and members of the House of Representatives from 360 to 397.

The renewed advocacy was highlighted during a Zonal Caucus Meeting organised by the League of Women Voters of Nigeria (NILOWV) in collaboration with sponsors of the bill.

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Speaking at the meeting, one of the sponsors of the bill, Hon. Iduma Igariwey Enwo, said the leadership of both chambers of the National Assembly had shown support for the proposal, while urging advocates to sustain engagement with lawmakers who were yet to endorse it.

According to him, he and several members of the House of Representatives have consistently championed increased women’s participation in governance.

“Myself and a considerable number of honourable members of the House of Representatives have been ardent supporters and advocates for women’s inclusion in governance in Nigeria, which made us to be more than 100 per cent in support of Special Seats for women.

“The procedure and mechanism proposed in the bill for the emergence of the women lawmakers through the Special Seats will provide a window for women to make appreciable representation in both the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly, and from where they can now be coming in through the doors,” he said.

Under the proposal, the 12 Senate seats would be distributed across the six geopolitical zones, with each zone producing two female senators through a special electoral process.

Also speaking, the Executive Director of the African Parliamentary Resource Centre (APRC), John Ebikeseye, explained that the 37 additional seats in the House of Representatives would be allocated one each to the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

He said those occupying the proposed special seats would emerge through electoral colleges rather than the general election.

According to him, the electoral college for the Senate seats would comprise elected local government councillors, chairmen and vice-chairmen within the affected senatorial districts, while a similar arrangement would apply for the House of Representatives seats using elected officials from the respective federal constituencies.

Ebikeseye said the arrangement is intended to create a structured pathway for greater women’s participation in legislative governance while complementing existing electoral processes.

Participants at the meeting called on stakeholders, civil society organisations and lawmakers to support the passage of the bill, arguing that it would help improve gender inclusion and strengthen democratic representation in Nigeria.