Governance Specialist at ActionAid Nigeria, Vivian Efem-Bassey, has said that Nigerian women occupy less than 5 per cent of seats in the country’s parliament, far below the global benchmark of 26 per cent.
Efem-Bassey made this known during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief programme on Monday.
“Our figures are low, extremely low. We are below 5 per cent when globally, they are almost hitting 26 to 27 per cent,” she said on the breakfast show.
She highlighted the current push for reserved seats for women as a critical step toward improving female participation in governance.
“It’s the Nigerian women’s way of ensuring that women get to enter into strategic and apex decision-making bodies at Senate level, House of Representatives, and State Assemblies,” Efem-Bassey said.
According to her, women are demanding the passage of the Reserved Seat Bill.
“It is what is on the front burner, and that’s what Nigerian women are demanding. That’s central to us in this year’s International Women’s Day. Right now, our fingers are crossed, we are positive that it will happen, and women all over Nigeria, women’s groups at local, state, and federal levels, have mobilised,” she said.
Efem-Bassey noted that extensive efforts have been made to support the bill.
“We have gone the most we can when it comes to standard operating procedures of pushing passage of bills such as this, especially one as critical as this,” she said.
She further described the initiative as a historic moment.
“For us, this is writing our names in the sands of time,” she said, emphasizing that women’s perspectives are vital in lawmaking.
“They know where it pinches, what we need, and so when laws are being made around economy, entrepreneurship, business, security, and health, they come from the perspective of being a woman and a lived experience,” Efem-Bassey added.
Reserved Seat Bill
In the 10th National Assembly, a Reserved Seat Bill was proposed to boost women’s participation in governance at both national and state levels, noting that Nigeria has one of the lowest rates of female parliamentary representation.
The bill, which seeks to amend the 1999 Constitution, is scheduled for a vote at the National Assembly.
The Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) has pledged its full support for the bill.
Earlier this year, in February, some women staged a peaceful rally at the National Assembly to fast-track the passage of the Reserved Seat Bill ahead of the 2027 general election.
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