Nigerian women deserve strong voice as partners in politics, decision-making — Prof Egbo

Former Presidential candidate and renowned academic, Professor Benedicta Egbo, has said that Nigerian women deserve a strong voice as partners in politics and the decision-making process in the country.

Egbo advocated the creation of support networks funded through private and public efforts to enhance the chances of women seeking to lead the country, adding that recognition for the gender should go beyond the current “tokenism” approach.

Egbo, who contested the 2023 presidential poll on the platform of the National Rescue Movement (NRM), made her remarks amid the current clamour for more opportunities for women to participate in the 2027 elections.

“The time is now. Indeed, the national parliament and other relevant parties should, as a matter of urgency, enact laws that guarantee women’s greater participation in politics and democratic governance in the country in the interest of equity, fairness and national unity. It is the patriotic thing to do for the common good”, Egbo wrote in a statement she released on Wednesday.

The female politician called for reform-oriented interventions such as removing economic barriers that limit women’s access to resources such as “campaign finance, removing cultural impediments, combatting gender-based violence and, building women’s capacity through mentorship and political literacy programmes.”

She argued that no profound social change and sustainable development in Nigeria could be achieved without the full participation of women in the socio-political arena, frowning on the tendency to discriminate against women seeking political offices.

She stated, “Put differently, the transformative development we seek and yearn for in Nigeria cannot take place without co-opting women and giving them a seat at the table.

“Gender equality in all socio-political spheres is fundamental to good governance, a healthy and sustainable democracy. So, what is the way forward?

“Transforming the status quo requires the adoption of several innovative interventions including the removal of the structural and systemic barriers that impede women’s political participation.

“Furthermore, enacting constructive affirmative action laws that guarantee women a certain number of seats within the country’s parliament and other organs of governance should be a non-negotiable intervention strategy.

“While the number of seats is negotiable, it is not unreasonable to expect that between 30-35% of the seats at both the national and state assemblies should be reserved for women. However, empowerment through quotas is only a starting point.”

Egobo, who decried what she described as the gross under-representation of women in political leadership and governance at both the national and sub-national levels in the country, she noted that women’s place “remains at the periphery of the country`s political ecosystem despite the momentum gained in the advocacy for the empowerment of women for greater participation in politics and governance in the country.”

The academic highlighted that while successive governments have tried to implement policies that were aimed at boosting women’s representation in public decision-making, the “well-intentioned” have recorded abysmal failures.

In addition, she pointed out, “It is not a secret that previous attempts at passing a gender equality bill at the National Assembly that would have included the much-touted 35% quota for women have been unsuccessful.

“Currently, Nigeria has no substantive, legally-binding affirmative action policy vis à vis fair and equitable gender representation in politics. Rather, a cursory review of the information on demographic representation in electoral politics and public decision-making in the country paints a picture of women’s political exclusion and marginalisation, even though Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution (as amended) underscores the right of every citizen, including women, to full participation in the life of the country. In particular, Section 40 states that: “Every person shall be entitled to assemble freely and associate with other persons, and in particular he may form or belong to any political party, trade union or any other association for the protection of his interests.”

Giving an elaborate contribution with statistics, she went further, “The constitution’s inclusive mandate above is quite clear. Yet, women have very limited access to political opportunities and structures. They do not have a seat at the table and, without that, their interests cannot be protected in any consequential way.

“The exclusion of women from governance and public decision-making processes is inimical to social progress, adding that “many countries are striving, often through quotas, to increase women’s representation in their national parliaments.

“A relatively recent United Nations report shows that in 2020, about 20% of the world’s heads of state or government were women, while 25% of parliamentary seats were held by women.

“Similarly, the proportion of cabinet ministerial positions held by women was 22% while they also constituted 20% of the presidents or speakers of parliament.

“Comparatively, Nigeria lags far behind. Currently, women constitute only a tiny proportion of the executive branch, the national and state assemblies. A close analysis of the data on four of the most recent national legislative assemblies underscores the point.

“During the 7th National Assembly (2011-2015), 8 out of 109 (about 7.3 %) of the Senate seats were occupied by women. Similarly, women held only 25 out of 360 seats (6.9%) in the House of Representatives during the same period.

“A similar trend prevailed in the 8th assembly (2015-2019) in which women held only 7 out of 109 Senate seats (6.4%), while they occupied 20 out of the 360 seats in the House of Representatives.

“In the 9th Assembly (2019-2023), women held only 8 of 109 Senate seats and 13 of the 360 seats in the House of Representatives. Women have fared even worse in the 10th and current Assembly (2023-2027) in which they occupy only 3 of the 109 Senate seats and 17 of the 360 seats in the House of Representatives, representing only 4.2% of the combined 469-seat National Assembly,” she bemoaned.

“Also, comparative data from the global organization of national parliaments- the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which among other things, measures the number of women in parliament globally on a monthly basis, show that as at July 2025, only 14 (3.9%) out of 360 seats in the Nigerian house of Representatives and 3 (2.8 %) out of 109 seats in the Senate respectively, were occupied by women.

“These figures earned the country a very low IPU ranking of 177 out of 181 countries. Taken together, these data suggest that Nigeria, which should be a leading example of gender equality (at least in Africa), is on a downward trajectory with regard to women’s participation in electoral politics and, implicitly, in leadership and governance in the country.”

She added, “Ironically, while women remain grossly underrepresented in politics in Nigeria, five of the top countries in the world with high female parliamentary representation are in Africa as follows: Rwanda (61.3%), Senegal (41.2%), South Africa (44.6), Namibia (32.6%) and Mozambique (39.2 %). Notably, Rwanda has the highest parliamentary representation of women globally.

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