One of the issues on the legislative agenda of the 9th National Assembly is inclusiveness in governance. This includes adequate representation of women at all levels. So, when the 9th Assembly set out to do a review of the 1999 Constitution, women’s inclusion came to the front burner. There were five bills in this regard. Unfortunately, none of the bills got the required two-thirds votes to make it to the Houses of Assembly. TONY AKOWE and NICHOLAS KALU report
For over five hours, the lawmakers were glued to their seats, an unusual practice for most of them. For the first time, they were served refreshments of soft drink and biscuits inside the chambers as they consider the recommendations of the ad-hoc committee on constitution review. For each of the 68 bills to sail through, they must get a mandatory 240 votes from the House of Representatives. However, three of the bills needed more than 240 votes to sail through. They required about 287 votes and the speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila was determined to ensure that all the bills sail through the process. A week earlier, First Lady Aisha Buhari was in the House to witness the laying of the report. On the day that lawmakers met to consider the recommendations, the wife of the vice president, Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo sat almost throughout the entire session, leaving the National Assembly disappointed when all the female related bills were rejected.
The Speaker did not hide his disappointment that most of the women related bills were rejected one after the other. He however tried to force one that will allow women 20 per cent of offices in political party administration by putting the vote for the bill to voice vote, which is better than the normal voting that saw others fail. The five bills are having special seats for women in the legislature both at the state and federal level, to alter the concept of indigeneship, citizenship and to set aside 35 per cent of party leadership positions for women. The few women in the House did not hide their disappointment as they saw their aspirations go down the drain one after the other. Some of the women were seen on the floor making frantic efforts to compel their male colleagues to vote in their favour.
Their male counterparts had given assurances that would support the bills on women, but when the time came for voting, they rejected the bills, especially the one that sought special seats for women. Bill number 35 was the first to be rejected. Incidentally, the sponsor of the bill, Nkiruka Onyejeocha had lobbied her colleagues to ensure that it succeeds. The bill was gazetted for the first reading with 88 members signing up for it. It was gathered that after the first reading, more members signed up as co-sponsors. However, when it came up for voting, it failed to get even one-third backing, as only 91 members voted in favour.
The bill that sought to review the issue of citizenship and indigeneship as it pertains to women also failed to get the backing of federal lawmakers. The bill was prompted by the 2020 controversy over the appointment of a substantive chief judge of Cross River State. Justice Akon Ikpeme was initially denied her rightful place as Chief Justice of the State because she was of Akwa Ibom State parentage. The fact that she is married to a man from Cross River and has been working for decades as a judicial officer in the state did not matter initially. After much outrage and pressure, the governor eventually succumbed and did the right thing. Many other such situations abound across many other areas, especially in politics. It also sought to address the discrepancy between the conditions for citizenship by marriage between both genders.
Onyejeocha wondered how someone who co-sponsored the bill will still be part of those that killed it. From the gallery, people could observe one of those whose name appeared as co-sponsor of the bill voting no on his computer, even when it was conducted the second time. Onyejocha who is the Deputy Chief Whip said: “I am very disappointed; not because people shut down the bills but because the bills that were shut down have taken this country backwards. I am also worried because we are losing a lot in terms of resources because a lot of nations do not give us the grants that are meant for us because of representation. You can get those facts from the UNDP. They have the records.” She explained that it is disheartening that the number of women in the federal legislature is declining fast and that there was no assurance that the number will not drop further in the coming years.
She said: “We pushed for 35 per cent affirmative action, which is going to give us like 128 female lawmakers; nobody wants to hear that. Even their wives came up to ask me whether 35 per cent affirmative action will affect their husbands and so, it didn’t fly. I know most men that will not be on this floor if the women don’t gather to support and vote them in? So, what happened yesterday, for me, was unimaginable. I couldn’t think about it because I was not expecting it because having known how bills are killed on the floor, I decided to let everybody co-sponsor this bill. And the number one sponsor of this bill is our speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila. I know that for a presiding officer to sponsor a bill, I do not know anything that will kill that bill because he is our boss. So, I took it for granted that no matter how, this bill is going to pass. The first signatures we collected on the first day were eighty-something and that has just appeared in the first gazette. After that, we have almost 100 signatures again because we explained to them that your seats are secured. I thought that because they are not threatened in any way, they needed to support that we have these gaps filled. I didn’t expect that the bills will be killed. And of course, if you noticed when they started shouting no, no and all that, I was moving round to say but you co-sponsored this bill. So, what’s the no about? It is worrisome that people that signed their signatures to co-sponsor a bill will come on the day of voting to say no. I came here with other female colleagues, twenty-something women. Today, the number of women in the House has reduced; we are 13. So, what’s the guarantee that in the 10th assembly, it will not reduce further with this type of gang up, conspiracy and hatred for inclusion?”
Executive Director of Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) and one of the consultants to the House on the constitution review, Clement Nwankwo expressed disappointment that the National Assembly rejected all the reviews aimed at improving women’s rights and political representation. He recalled that after painstaking work and lobbying by civil society and women groups, the Constitution Review Committees of the Senate and House of Representatives proposed some bills regarding women’s participation in governance in the country. “But, unfortunately, the aspirations of Nigerian women were dashed when these bills were rejected in both the Senate and House of Representatives,” he added.
He said: “Nigeria is still far from achieving women’s substantial and effective participation in political decision-making, especially in the legislature. Nigeria currently sits at the bottom of every global ranking on women’s inclusion. Of note is Nigeria sharing the bottom three positions in the ranking of African countries on women in parliaments with two other African countries that have not had the benefit of elections in years. Women occupy a meagre four per cent of seats in the National Assembly. Fifteen state assemblies do not have a single woman in their midst. Yet these are spaces where everyday issues affecting citizens, half of which are women, are discussed and decided. Several declarations to take specific action to improve women’s political participation have been made, including the National Assembly promising in its Legislative Agenda, to make inclusion a priority.
“However, we make bold to say that they have failed in this regard. We are aware that women groups and civil society activists have been fighting for women’s political inclusion long before this time but have achieved minimal success, owing to resistance and lack of commitment to measures proposed. Consequently, proposals such as the Special/Additional Seats Bill came as a unique response to the lessons learned over the years, that political parties would not implement numeric targets for women candidates to contest for elections. It is therefore unfortunate to see this proposal, which is a temporary special measure in use in other African countries, voted down.”
Spokesman of the House, Benjamin Kalu however does not believe that the male folks betrayed their female colleagues, but that the women did not do enough lobbying to get their bills through. He argued that the lobbying is not restricted to members of parliament alone, but down to the constituents who were probably not well-schooled on the benefits of the bills. He is of the opinion that if the male lawmakers were not favourably disposed to the bills, especially the bill that sought to create special seats for women in parliament they would not have allowed it to go through the second reading and to the committee stage and public hearing. Kalu acknowledged the role played by the wife of the president, the wife of the vice president and the minister of Women Affairs and the Deputy Chief Whip of the House in trying to get inclusivity for women. He said even though the alterations did not sail through, they should not give up the fight because, according to him, “the journey of a thousand mile starts with a step”. He added that the lobbying that was done was not in vain. Kalu was however quick to add that the lobbying came a bit late.
He said: “The advocacy for this was supposed to have started longer than now. You don’t lobby two days to the voting on a very important issue like this. It goes beyond lobbying at the last minute. It takes a lot of orientation and advocacy, as well as sensitisation to enable people to buy into this all-important agenda. You cannot play down on our current issues as an emerging democracy, one of which is our religious belief and cultural disposition because these things play roles. We are part of society. Our religion and culture are part of society and there is a need for serious advocacy. We need civil society organisations and women groups to push this forward because it is a wonderful agenda. But you need people to buy in from the constituents and not just the lawmakers. ”
Kalu argued further: “If the House as an institution was not interested in this agenda, it would not have passed the first and second reading and be allowed to go to the committee level. It means that the institution gave it all it needed to succeed. But there is the job of selling it as a way of changing our long-standing cultural and religious disposition which you cannot wave away. It takes time; it has started well and we will keep pushing. Let the civil society organisations not give up; let the women not give up, but leverage on the miles they have achieved so far in pushing for this agenda. It is not yet over. Do not see the work you have done as a waste, but as a seed that has been planted in the mind of Nigerians.”
The women groups did not take kindly to the decision to shoot down all the bills affecting them directly in one way or the other. They took to the streets of Abuja and blocked the main entrance to the National Assembly, thereby subjecting staff and visitors to severe hardship for two days. They insisted on seeing either the Senate president or the speaker of the House or both before leaving. They also insisted that the decision of the two chambers must be reversed. As early as 10 am, the women had mobilised over 59 different women groups to storm the National Assembly. Various entreaties to them by various lawmakers to leave as their issues would be addressed fell on deaf ears, as they insisted that Lawan and Gbajabiamila must come out to listen to them and do something urgently to reintroduce the bills that were rejected.
Deputy Senate Leader, Senator Ajayi Boroffice and Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe came out to address them. But the women refused to listen to them even when Boroffice assured them that their message will be passed to the leadership and appropriate action was taken on it. At the House, Nkiruka Onyejeocha came out to address them, but the women will also not budge, as they remained adamant.
The women in their numbers sat on the floor. They also brought bottles of water to rehydrate themselves as they waited. Some brought mats to sit on the floor of the gate of the National Assembly. To keep themselves going, they were playing music and dancing and various supporters also addressed them. One of their leaders, Dr Abiola Afolabi said the treatment of the bills by the National Assembly was a manifestation of historical injustices against Nigerians. She said it was unfortunate that the women are treated shabbily when they have so much to contribute to making the country better. She said what the women requested in the constitutional amendment was just the bare minimum as there is still a lot of issues to be addressed. Dr Afolabi argued that the constitution which preaches against discrimination was actually discriminatory against women.
Afolabi said the women were ready to rise up and take their destiny in their hands and called on women across the country to rise up to the occasion. They expressed disappointment and betrayal because they had the assurance of the National Assembly that the bills would be passed. She said: “Nigerian women are disappointed and aggrieved at the actions of the 9th National Assembly today Tuesday, March 1, 2022, when they denied women the opportunity of inclusion and representation in governance by voting against the gender bills. The National Assembly has spoken loud and clear that they do not want progress for society: for mothers, aunties, sisters, wives, and for daughters. It is particularly sad that in a month globally dedicated to celebrating women worldwide, our National Assembly has chosen to deny women basic human rights particularly, the right to identity and belonging.”
The proposed gender bills in the 5th Constitution Alteration Bills that were all rejected are bills targeted at addressing the current gender imbalance across the legislative arm of governments across the country, whilst reducing the under-representation of women in political office. The men of the 9th National Assembly have reinforced the discrimination and political bias against women as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution by denying citizenship to a foreign-born husband of a Nigerian woman, while it allows Nigerian men’s foreign-born wives to be awarded automatic citizenship, denying Nigerian women indigeneship through marriage. It also denies 35 per cent appointed positions for women and settling for 20 per cent, deny women affirmative action in party administration and leadership and also deny s specific seats for women in the National Assembly.
Afolabi added: “The men of the 9th National Assembly by their actions have taken us backwards. Their actions undermine the importance and relevance of women’s contribution to the governance of Nigeria including the key role women play to bring victory to political parties in elections at all levels across the country. They also voted against diaspora voting. Nigerian women, therefore, demand that all gender bills be reconsidered. Ultimately, our demands will benefit not just women but Nigeria as a whole. More women in governance will only bring progress, and respect for Nigeria in the committee of nations. We cannot, in 2022, be negotiating the rights of women and the sanctity of the dignity of girls. We call on the National Assembly to represent these bills as a matter of urgency and ensure that they are passed.”
The question being asked right now is when will the issue of women’s inclusion be given the right place in the nation’s constitution? Will the National Assembly reverse itself on the rejected bills before transmitting them to the state Houses of Assembly? Only time will tell.
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