Some Lawmakers from the Nigerian National Assembly have expressed their commitment to ensure that the recently rejected Pro-Gender Equality Bills could be revisited before the end of the 9th Assembly.
The assurance was made in an exclusive interview with Channel Network Afrique, CNA, who sought to know the true position of the five bills dumped in March 2022.
Provisions of the rejected bills include, reservation of 35% of seats for women in Parliament as currently, only 4% women are legislators; 35% of political leadership positions for women against just a handful of cabinet appointments are handed to women, granting automatic citizenship for foreign-born husbands of Nigerian women as the Nigerian constitution already confers automatic citizenship to foreign-born wives of men and giving women the right to become indigenes of their husband’s state after five years of marriage.
They also spoke on factors that led to the rejection of the Pro-Gender Equality Bills by some of their colleagues.
The African Press Club recently organised a one day roundtable engagement in Abuja, Nigeria, with the theme “Advancing Women Participation In Governance and Decision Making In Nigeria” to coincide with the resumption of the National Assembly as a way of putting pressure on the legislative arm of government to do what is right.
The strategy however, sent shiver in some quarters of the National Assembly especially as the 2023 general elections is by the corner.
With sustained advocacy and pressure from relevant stakeholders, there is the likelihood for the bills to be revisited.
