On Monday, hundreds of women took to the streets of Abuja, the nation’s capital, to push for a bill that would include only-women seats in the Senate and House of Representatives.

According to the women’s group, from Senegal to Rwanda, there has been an increase in the number of women legislators through quota systems.

New Telegraph gathered that Nigeria records no such system as it only counts 16 women among the 360-member House of Representatives, out of 109

The Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre revealed that Nigeria has no such system and only counts four women senators out of 109 and 16 women in the 360-member House of Representatives.

One of the organisers, Dorothy Njemanze, said, “We want the legislature to work for women.”

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Women from across the country took to the streets of Abuja to seek a solution to financial barriers, entrenched gender roles and a domination of politics by male power brokers that keep women out of power in Africa’s most populous nation.

The campaign culminated in the submission of signatures backing the legislation to a House committee convening a hearing on constitutional reform

President Bola Tinubu’s minister for women’s affairs, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, has expressed support for the proposed legislation

But, the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), in its legislative review, cautioned that amending the constitution remains a daunting task, requiring the backing of two-thirds of the National Assembly and at least 24 state assemblies.

Previous efforts to create reserved seats for women in Nigeria’s legislature have repeatedly fallen short.

50-year-old Civil Servant, Onu Ihunania, said, “I want that seat, because tomorrow, I may be the one contesting for it,”

Nyiyam Ikyereve, 40, who journeyed from Benue State to join the protest, said a more gender-balanced National Assembly would be better positioned to prioritise women’s health and economic empowerment.