Description

In the year 2022, Nigerian women presented 5 gender bills for constitutional reform to the National Assembly and Unfortunately, not one of the 5 bills was successfully passed by the 9th National Assembly. Women In Politics Forum (WIPF) was one of the organizations that championed this constitutional reform in order to have a more inclusive and gender responsive constitution. Further engagements with Parliamentarians on why the 5 gender bills for constitutional reform failed in March 2022 revealed that one major issue the bills had was that parliamentarians were not engaged directly by their constituents on the bills. In essence, parliamentarians did not deem it fit to prioritize the gender bills for constitution amendment as they did not view the bills as pressing and demanding issues from the Nigerian populace and did not vote in favor of the bills. 

Objective

In view of the Above, WIPF is launching a nationwide campaign reaching out to Nigerians at all levels raising an awareness on how citizens can connect with members of the 10th National Assembly to prioritize the bills for passage. This will ensure that demand for the bills come directly from constituent members to members of the 10th National Assembly and also result in a national increase in the representation of women in government. This campaign is not for Nigerian women alone, it concerns all of us as Nigerians!

Message

Nigerian women have asked the 10th National Assembly to pass the SPECIAL SEATS BILL and other gender bills, to increase women's representation in the legislature which is currently below 5%. I join my voice as your constituent to ask that you please vote for the SPECIAL SEATS constitutional amendment bill when presented. Let's make our Nigeria a fair place for everyone.