Ekeomah Atuonwu
Women and various women groups stormed the Nigerian National Assembly on Wednesday to protest the rejection of three main bills that seek to support women representation in government, either appointive or elective.
As early as 8am on Wednesday, hundreds of women showed up at the National Assembly Complex in the Nigerian capital to demonstrate against the Senate’s decisions at yesterday’s constitution amendment session.
The women blocked the main gate leading to the National Assembly Complex saying their storming the National Assembly was to protest and ventilate their anger against the rejection of Gender and Equality Bills.
Speaking through the leader of the group, they described the rejection of the reserved special seats of 111 for women as wicked and inhumane while calling on the Federal lawmakers to revisit and vote in favour of the bills as a matter of urgency and necessity.
As the stage is set for the new version of the Nigerian construction, the Senate has approved financial autonomy for state legislatures, judiciary and local governments in the country.
The approval came on Tuesday during voting on the report of the Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bills, 2022.
Women and girls make up nearly half the entire country’s population in Nigeria but are grossly underrepresented in Nigeria’s political space. Only 19 of the 469 legislators currently serving in Nigeria’s bicameral legislature – a meagre 4 percent – are female.
No woman has ever been elected governor or president and only a handful of cabinet appointments are handed to women. Consequently, the West African state is ranked 180 out of 190 according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
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