Nigeria

Sir: Since 1999, barely 43 women senators and 119 House members have held elective seats in Nigeria’s National Assembly. Sometimes triumphant but often solitary, their journeys tell stories of structural exclusion, and individual determination. Over 25 years of democracy in Nigeria, women have held 162 out of 3,283 legislative seats. That means women have occupied fewer than 1 in 20 (or 4.9%) seats in Nigeria’s highest law-making body.

The First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, has said that allocating special seats to women in state and federal parliaments is not an act of charity but a way of strengthening the country’s democracy.

Tinubu made this statement on Wednesday at an interactive session on the special seat bill for women during the 2025 Open National Assembly Week, organised by the House of Representatives in Abuja.

Women in Borno state have called on the state government to mandate the reservation of special portfolios both at the state and federal levels.

The women, under the aegis of Women Political Participation Working Group, made the demand in the late hours of Thursday during a Consultative meeting of Women Advocacy Groups in preparation for the Zonal Public Hearing on Review of the 1999 Constitution in Maiduguri, Borno state

Nigerian women across different social statuses have been urged to become more politically conscious and actively involved in partisan politics as the next general elections in the country draw closer.

As Nigeria continues its quest for socio-economic development, women have been encouraged to vie for political positions at all levels of government, from local councils to the National Assembly.

This call to action was made by the Chief Responsibility Officer, Mother Gold, Dr. Adeshina Fagbenro-Byron, at the third annual Mental Health Series themed “Rise, Speak, and Renew’, organized by the Victoria Modupe Foundation. at Wemabod Estate in Ikeja, Lagos, in commemoration of International Women’s Day.