…Pushes for more women in parliament, governance
Foremost female academic and presidential aspirant in the 2023 general elections, Professor Benedicta Egbo, has called for the creation of support networks funded through private and public efforts to enhance the chances of women seeking political offices.
Prof. Egbo made the call in a statement she signed and made available to journalists on Wednesday, saying that Nigeria is at an important historical juncture, and that achieving its promises as a successful and thriving nation requires that women be given a voice as equal partners in politics and public decision-making in ways that “transcend symbolic tokenism.”
Her remarks came on the heels of recent calls by stakeholders for increased electoral opportunities for women in the upcoming 2027 general elections.
The 2023 presidential candidate on the platform of the National Rescue Movement (NRM) said, “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.”
She also called for reform-oriented interventions such as removing economic barriers that limit women’s access to resources, such as “campaign finance, removing cultural impediments, combating gender-based violence and building women’s capacity through mentorship and political literacy programmes.”
According to her, no profound social change and sustainable development in Nigeria can be achieved without the full participation of women in the socio-political arena, cautioning against discriminatory practices against women seeking public offices, even as she stressed that keeping women at the margins of politics, governance and public decision-making is the same as excluding one half of the country’s population from the processes of development and nation-building.
“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,” she said.
While decrying 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, the erudite scholar and Professor of education lamented that the current place of women in the country`s political journey “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.”
She noted the failure of previous attempts at addressing and resolving the problem of gender imbalance in Nigeria’s electoral politics, highlighting that while successive governments tried to implement policies that were aimed at boosting women’s representation in public decision-making, the “well-intentioned” have recorded abysmal failures.
She said: “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.
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.
“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.”
