South-West Leaders Lobby Lawmakers to Back Women’s Reserved Seats Bill
Traditional rulers and policy advocates from the South-West on Friday renewed pressure on federal and state lawmakers from the region to back the proposed Reserved Seats for Women Bill, arguing that the measure is essential to correcting Nigeria’s entrenched gender imbalance in political representation.
Their appeal was delivered at a legislative dialogue organised in Abuja by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies, where the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, and former Minister of National Planning, Prof Abubakar Sulaiman, urged South-West legislators to rally behind the initiative and seek the support of the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu.
The bill seeks to introduce 37 additional seats in the Senate, 37 in the House of Representatives, and three dedicated seats per state across all 36 houses of assembly, exclusively for women.
Nigeria currently records one of the lowest female representation rates in Africa, with women holding 3.7 per cent of Senate seats and 3.9 per cent in the House.
Speaking at the event, the Ooni said the proposal offered a path to meaningful participation for women who, he argued, continue to face structural exclusion.
He said: “I don’t joke with the issue of women and things that concern our mothers. I take them very personally. I am therefore using this opportunity to appeal to our dear First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, who understands deeply and passionately the essence of what we are doing here today.
“Naturally, women are suppressed in Nigeria, and we treat them like caterpillars to clear the roads. Once the aim is achieved, we then dump them. We should give them more inclusion and participation in everything we do.
“This initiative, I can assure you, is yielding very positive results. Again, I’m looking forward to the day a woman will become the Senate President in this country. We are with them and fully support this initiative that has been birthed.”
Prof Sulaiman, who heads NILDS, framed the gathering as a deliberate effort to secure political legitimacy for gender reforms by bridging advocacy with traditional authority.
He disclosed that the proposal already enjoys the support of the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas.
“For NILDS, this convening is particularly significant. It aligns squarely with the Institute’s mandate to support the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly in strengthening legislative processes through research, policy analysis and evidence-based advocacy,” he said.
He added that legislative progress on the bill must be anchored on societal values, noting that cultural legitimacy is essential for reforms to endure.
Gender advocates at the meeting warned that Nigeria’s prolonged exclusion of women from political leadership has consequences for households, policymaking and national development.
Former ActionAid Nigeria Country Director, Ene Obi, said the lack of representation prevents women’s concerns from entering legislative debates.
She said: “The life of a woman is about her children. When something affects a woman, the humans she is responsible for are affected. Yet, we have only 16 women out of 360 in the House of Representatives and just four out of 109 in the Senate.
“In 14 Houses of Assembly in this country, there is not a single woman represented. Unless women are at the table, their issues will not be addressed.”
Obi also noted that there have been modest positive signs in recent years, pointing out that the National Assembly marked International Women’s Day in 2024 and again in 2025
