Canticles….
More Women for Lawmaking?
Ithink the national lawmakers deserve a special commendation for always rising to the occasion of public expectation.
Really? These same lawmakers in the 9th Assembly?. So, what have they done to deserve this special commendation?
I am surprised you are asking this.You mean you didn’t hear of the great resolution they recently passed concerning the need to have more women in the National Assembly?
Naaaaa, it was not a resolution. It was just a Bill presented by the Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Hon Nkeiruka Onyejocha, and 85 other lawmakers; the motion merely passed through the second reading. It has the third reading to contend with before it becomes a law, after a concurrence by the senate. But I can tell you that the motion appears popular among the lawmakers. I think the sponsors f the motion did a lot of lobbying before the presentation.
So, by your own affirmation, it is a motion that enjoys great support. So it is to be expected that going through the third reading won’t be such a herculean task. That is why I think the lawmakers must be commended for thinking ahead. They have argued that given the huge population of women in Nigeria (47 percent ) the 4.4% representation at the National Assembly is dismal and unacceptable. They bemoan the fact that out of 109 senators, only eight are women. And that out of 360 House of Reps members, only 13 are women. Therefore, the representation level of women at the National Assembly should be deliberately shored up by altering some sections of the 1999 constitution, as amended, by creating additional senatorial districts in every state of the federation, plus the FCT, just as two additional federal constituencies should be created in each of the state plus the FCT, across the country and that both the extra senatorial seat and two additional seats (per state and the FCT) at the House of Reps, be occupied exclusively by women.That way, women shall have minimum of 37 senators in the senate and 74 women in the House of Reps.
That is the general framework of the Bill. It still has a long way to go to become a law.
The lawmakers do not need to waste any time in passing such a Bill. We indeed need more women in the parliament. With more women, there will be less friction and throwing of chairs or boxing of themselves. Indeed, more women will make the tone in the parliament more reconciliatory than combative. We need more women. And don’t forget that their soft appeal to national issues always have great effects. Who knows with more women in the parliament, this spate of violence threatening the country, would be a thing of the past when they activate their motherly mode in appealing to those bandits and Boko Haram terrorists. We really need more women, and we don’t care if it will cost us addition N7.8 billion to service them annually. After all, is it not better to spend that money on our women and achieve peace than expend more than thrice that amount, and yet get no respite?
You are talking rubbish. You mean we should knowingly undertake to spend another N7.8 billion to service the narrow interest of selfish women in the name of gender balancing, in the face of the dwindling economy? Do you know that the lawmakers presently consume over 37 % of the national budget to the detriment of many other critical sectors? And you are supporting the creation of more senatorial districts and federal constituencies across the country? Are you alright?
Look, I am very alright. All we are asking is that the Beijing Declaration should be respected. How do you explain that out of 109 senators, only eight are women, and that out of 360 House of Reps members, only 13 are women, whereas they even vote more in number during elections?
So, if they have more voting population at elections, let them use that support base to elect their fellow women. They don’t have to have separate and exclusive seat either in the senate or House of Reps. Let them go out there and contest and strive to be elected.
You mean in the face of the daunting problems facing the country, the concern of some chauvinists is how to swell the rank of the parliament with more gele-tying women?
Are you implying that it is Okay for the men to keep lording over women in the National Assembly?
Do you realise the roles they play in National development? Do you know they are better managers of scarce resources?
Please leave out the issue of managing scarce resources. We have not forgotten the case of Patricia Etteh, former Speaker of the House of Reps. The nation is currently contending with the case of the suspended Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman on the issue of under-remittance of NPAfunds to the federal till.
Don’t drag in extra-territorial matters here. It is a democracy. The people want more women in the parliament. If it goes through the process, so be it. And there is nothing you can do about it from the sideline.
I am a stakeholder. Tell these women not to be in a hurry. Once upon a time, it was just Franca Afegbua as a female lawmaker in the country. Today, they are about 21 female lawmakers in both chambers. It is growing. They should not be faster than their shadows.
But talking seriously, how many of the women have you heard being legislatively aggressive in canvassing a position that is of greater benefit to majority of Nigerians? Don’t you know that many of them are bench warmers? Or did you not hear the other day, how a female senator rebuked a fellow senator for bemoaning the security situation in the country, asking the colleague if he was a PDP member? Are those the myopic sentiments that will encourage more female representation?