SIR: The past week has been a battle and a period of protests for Nigerian women who watched with dismay as the National Assembly failed to pass the five gender bills for constitution amendment. March 1, will be remembered for a long time as the day the 9th National Assembly voted against freedom, equality and rights which are intrinsic features of democracy. For Nigerian women who watched the voting on the constitutional bills, the screams of ‘NO’ and laughter by the lawmakers over basic rights Bills was a psychological abuse to break the resilient spirit of Nigerian women. It was a clear disregard of the hard work of Nigerian women who fought side-by-side with Nigerian men for our independence, democracy and freedom.
Nigeria deserves to be a nation of truth. These truths remain that Nigeria’s democracy will remain stagnant without women. Nigeria cannot achieve meaningful growth and sustainable development if women are excluded from government and if gender inequality persists. Hence the importance of these gender bills.
On a positive note, the House of Representatives on March 8, reversed its decision on three of the five Bills to vote again after the protests by Nigerian women. Each bill requires two-thirds majority votes in both the Senate (at least 73 senators) and House of Representatives (240 of members) to pass at the national level and two-thirds of the State Assemblies (at least 24 of the 36 state Assemblies) to pass them before Presidential assent. It is important to note that there are five gender bills and each of the five is as important as the other.
Nigeria is a rich, diverse nation that has the potential to wield the power to control the waves of democratic expansion and development in Africa. Sadly, Nigeria has remained the most-timid in taking bold steps to guarantee the freedom and equality of all people in its democracy. We should not forget that our 62 years of independence and 23 years of democracy is a product of the collective efforts of men and women. When the legislators, played in the gallery of ego than reason and danced around the issues of freedom and equality they set Nigeria on a backward trend. However, there is still an opportunity to redeem our democracy. The House of Representatives will be voting again on three of the Gender Bills; Citizenship, Indigeneship and 35% Affirmative Action in party administration. Nigeria needs both the Senate and the House of Representatives to vote and pass all five Gender Bills. We need the National Assembly to pass the gender bills for generations of women and girls in Nigeria today and in the future.
- Cynthia Mbamalu,
coambamalu@gmail.com.