The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, and a former Minister of National Planning, Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman, on Friday joined traditional rulers in the South-Western part of the country to advocate for the timely passage of the Reserved Seats for Women Bill.
The traditional rulers made the appeal while speaking at a programme organised by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies in Abuja, charging the lawmakers from the region to support the bill.
They also sought the intervention of the First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu to ensure speedy passage of the bill, proposing the creation of 37 additional seats in the Senate, 37 in the House of Representatives, and three reserved seats per state in all 36 state assemblies, exclusively for female candidates.
According to statistics, women are currently occupying just 3.7 per cent of Senate seats and 3.9 per cent of seats in the House of Representatives, reflecting the long-standing underrepresentation of women in the nation’s legislature.
In his keynote address, Oba Adeyeye, who commended the initiative, maintained that it would give women a greater sense of belonging and advance their political aspirations.
“I don’t joke with the issue of women and things that concern our mothers. I take them very personally. I am therefore using this opportunity to appeal to our dear First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, who understands deeply and passionately the essence of what we are doing here today.
“Naturally, women are suppressed in Nigeria, and we treat them like caterpillars to clear the roads. Once the aim is achieved, we then dump them. We should give them more inclusion and participation in everything we do.
“This initiative, I can assure you, is yielding very positive results. Again, I’m looking forward to the day a woman will become the Senate President in this country. We are with them and fully support this initiative that has been birthed,” he said.
Also speaking, former Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria, Ene Obi, cautioned against relegating women in political representation.
PUNCH