The African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (Centre LSD) has called on the National Assembly to pass the proposed Reserved Seats Bill for women, saying constitutional intervention is necessary to address the under-representation of women in Nigeria’s political institutions.
The organisation’s Founding Executive Director and Project Director of the Women Can Lead Project, Dr Otive Igbuzor, made the call in Abuja during a press conference held as part of the organisation’s gender mainstreaming activities.
Igbuzor said Nigeria needs deliberate measures to increase women’s representation in governance, pointing to constitutional and institutional mechanisms adopted by countries that have recorded progress in women’s political participation.
He said the proposed reserved-seats arrangement could provide women with greater access to legislative positions and urged the National Assembly to take responsibility for its passage.
“The political environment must be transformed to create a level playing field for women seeking elective office,” Igbuzor said, while also calling on political parties, communities and other institutions to play their part.
The proposed legislation has also received support from lawmakers campaigning for greater representation. House Committee on Women Affairs and Social Development Chairperson Kafilat Ogbara described the bill as a temporary corrective measure to address the imbalance in women’s representation.
Under the current proposal, special seats would be created for women in the National and State Houses of Assembly, while women would remain eligible to contest existing seats. The proposal has undergone amendments, including provisions concerning persons with disabilities.
The renewed advocacy comes ahead of the 2027 general elections, with recent figures showing that only 443 of the 4,408 candidates cleared for National Assembly elections are women.
For Centre LSD, the proposed legislation represents an opportunity to address women’s representation through a specific constitutional measure.
