Women’s groups across Nigeria have intensified calls for greater political inclusion, urging the Members of House of Representatives to pass a bill that would create reserved seats for women in legislative bodies.

The call becomes necessary amids lcontinued underrepresentation of women in Nigeria’s political system. With Nigerian women making up nearly half of the population, women occupy only a small fraction of seats in both the national and state assemblies. This indeed creates imbalance in the Democratic representation and limits the diversity of perspectives in policy making.

The Federation of Muslim Women’s Associations in Nigeria, FOMWAN alongside other women’s Associations and professional networks, in Niger State joined an these organized advocacy visits, delivering letters directly to members of the House of Representatives at their residences and constituency offices.

The proposed Reserved Seats Bill seeks to amend Nigeria’s constitution to allocate a specific number of seats for women in the National Assembly and possibly in state legislatures. If countries such as Rwanda and Senegal and Tanzania can have a number of female representatives, Nigerian women can comfortably and actively be in the State and National assemblies and contribute to National Development.Some of the challenges faced by by women that hinder their greater activeness in politics include limited access to campaign funding, political violence, and societal expectations cultural and religious barrier discourage women’s active participation politics.

It is hoped that passing of this bill, will provide women with greater political opportunities.