Constitution review will address gender imbalance, Kalu assures

By Christiana Ekpa

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu has assured that the ongoing constitution review exercise by the 10th National Assembly will address the issue of gender imbalance.
The Deputy Speaker who is also the Chairman, House Committee on Constitution Review gave the assurance on Monday while speaking at the ongoing Roundtable on Women Inclusion in Politics, organized by Policy and Legal Advocacy Center (PLAC), Yiaga Africa, Nigeria Women Trust Fund, ElectHer and the European Union (EU) in Abuja.
Kalu bemoaned the poor participation of women in Nigerian politics, saying, countries like Rwanda had implemented a constitutional provision mandating at least 30% of parliamentary seats to be reserved for women.
He stressed that the impact has been profound with women now holding an unparalleled 61.3% of seats in the lower House of parliament in Rwanda.
According to the Deputy Speaker, the figure stood at 4% of women holding seats in the House of Representatives and 3.6% in the Senate in the Nigeria’s National Assembly.
He added that reservation of seats and adoption of electoral quotas for women would greatly increase the ranking of Nigeria amongst the commity of nations.
He however said with the ongoing constitution review exercise and the ‘body language’ of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the inclusion of the Nigerian women in politics will be realized.
He said: “What you are stating is the fact, the comparative analyses were not manipulated. I read a few prepared by PLAC a few minutes ago. The Giant of Africa is the least on the list of Women participation in politics. It is not good at all.
“Does the President (Tinubu) know this? Yes. Is he in support of such exclusion? No. Is he willing to take it to the next level? Yes.
“Are there evidences to show that he believes in that, or is his body language towards that? Yes. Check and you will find out that the First Lady was supported by him to be in the parliament for a very long time. Himself was also in the Parliament. He understands what you are talking about.