Only 48 women were elected out of 988 seats in state legislatures in 36 states. This accounts for roughly 4.85% of female representation as reported by Daily Trust reported. The poor appearance of women in elections that have just ended has once again highlighted existential problems. Serious legislation needs to be enacted at the national level to ensure fairness for women, experts say.
Sources reveal that given Nigeria’s diversity and struggle to promote democracy in its early days, women should have a say in policy-making, articulation and implementation.
Over time, the country’s lack of women in politics has raised concerns among stakeholders and gender activists.
In the 2023 election, women made up about 47.5% of her 93 million registered voters, according to INEC.
Despite making up the majority of the country’s electoral population, women have little chance of being elected to political office. It doesn’t matter that they have so much potential.
A breakdown of the results showed that some women secured seats in 21 states. The states include;
Anambra, Kaduna, Bayelsa, Benue, Cross River, Delta, Ekiti, Oyo, Taraba, Nasarawa, Plateau, Kogi, Kwara, Akwa Ibom, Ogun, Lagos, Adamawa, Ondo, Enugu and Ebonyi.
However, they were not lucky in states such as –
Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Abia, Osun, Rivers, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara states, where only men dominated.
A further breakdown showed that the South West produced the highest number of female lawmakers with a total of 16 elected women from five of the six states in the region. Ekiti State topped with 6 female lawmakers, Lagos and Ondo have 3 each, while Ogun and Oyo have 2 each. Osun is the only state in the region without a female lawmaker.
The North Central geopolitical zone ranked second with 12 female lawmakers across five out of the six states. Kwara State topped the chart with 5 female lawmakers with Benue, Plateau and Kogi producing 2 each, while Nasarawa produced 1.
The breakdown also showed that the South South geopolitical zone produced 10 female lawmakers across five states to emerge third.
Akwa Ibom State topped the chart with 4 female lawmakers, with Bayelsa and Delta having 2 each, while Cross River and Edo states had 1 each. In the South East, three out of the five states produced 5 female lawmakers. Ebonyi has 2, Enugu 2, and Anambra has one.
Abia and Imo states have no female lawmakers.
Like the South East, the North East also produced three female lawmakers from two out of six states in the region. Taraba produced 2 and Adamawa had 1. However, Borno, Gombe, Yobe and Bauchi have no female lawmakers.
In the North West geopolitical zone, out of the seven states in the region, only Kaduna produced two female lawmakers. Kano, Zamfara, Jigawa, Sokoto, Katsina and Kebbi states have no female representatives in the state assemblies.
Out of the total number of 30 members in the Anambra State House of Assembly, only one female was able to secure a seat.
Mrs Nkechi Ogbuefi of the Labour Party (LP) won the Anaocha constituency to retire the incumbent member, Ebele of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Meanwhile, the only female currently in the state assembly representing Onitsha South 2 constituency, Beverly Ikpeazu, could not make it back to the House.
cc: Daily Trust Ng
