The 10th National Assembly’s legislators have been tasked by civil society organizations to prioritize gender inclusivity.
On Tuesday, May 16, 2023, in Abuja, the CSOs voiced this demand in a conversation with the News Agency of Nigeria.
Prof. Joy Ezeilo, the founder of Women Aid Collective (WACOL), claimed that while the 9th Assembly recording some successes, measures that promote gender inclusivity did not receive the appropriate attention.
Ezeilo stated that despite appeals from stakeholders, the assembly failed to approve five crucial gender laws. He asked the 10th Assembly to work arduously to alter the narrative.
According to Ezeilo, the legislation also included one that aimed to create 111 new members to the National Assembly and to give 35% of political posts based on appointment to women.
“It is very important to engage at every opportunity and especially for the 10th National Assembly representatives to begin from time to set the gender agenda.
“This is so they can buy into why not only does it make sense to enhance women’s participation but recognising importantly, that women have a right to participate in the government of their country.
“We run a democracy, and for us to have a sustainable constitutional, democracy and development, we need both men and women,” she said.
According to Ezeilo, the 10th Assembly needs to give gender equality problems top priority in order to correct previous mistakes.
“If they actually look at all those gender-related bills and they handle it, they would have solved half of the problem of Nigeria in a way.
“This is because it is all about systemic, structural inequalities and those inequalities affect every other person,” she said.
According to Ezeifo, research has indicated that more women in positions of authority, particularly in the legislature, would create legislation that were responsive to all people, especially various kinds of people.
“Beyond this, you can see the decimal performance of women in this assembly. We just have three female elected senators; 14 or 15 in the House of Representatives, there are about 15 Houses of Assembly that don’t have even a female representative.
“And then you ask yourself given the position of Nigeria in the comity of nations as a distinct leader in African Union, leading in ECOWAS and hosting ECOWAS.
“Nigeria will always come on the bottom of every assessment in the World Economic Forum Assessment and the indices in terms of the Gender Gap report; they use politics, they use health, they use education and we came last with regards to the issue of gender,” she said.
Ezeilo urged the legislators to ensure that they alter the history of the gender legislation.
The president of the Women in Politics Forum (WIPF), Mrs. Ebere Ifendu, also voiced displeasure with the lack of female members elected to the 10th Assembly.
“We are relying on our men. And we need you to partner with us. The first bill that you should be presenting is a collective bill, it should be the five gender bills. Let’s have a difference from the 10th Assembly.
“We developed a document, Governance, and Gender for an Inclusive Nigeria. We have three organisations that worked on that document, the Women in the Politics Forum, Youth Hub and Inclusive Friends.
“We seek the support of the male legislators. We are counting on all of them to vote when these bills will be represented.”
NAN
