Why Reserved Seats for Women campaign is gaining ground – Northwest director Aisha Yau
The North-West Coordinator of the Reserved Seats for Women campaign, Amb. Aisha Abdulkadir Yau, has said the movement will be successful, bearing in mind the massive endorsements and commitments they are getting from critical stakeholders from across the country.
The coordinator disclosed this in an interview with journalists in Abuja on Thursday.
She said prominent Nigerians, including First Lady Senator Remi Tinubu, APC National Chairman, ministers, among others, have endorsed the special seats for women campaign, saying this has deepened the support base of the campaign.
Amb. Aisha Yau said the massive mobilisation and door-to-door campaign being undertaken in the North-West zone is yielding successes, triggering mass support for the campaign from stakeholders who were hitherto aloof.
The coordinator said the recent Reserved Seats for Women zonal campaign in Kaduna, which drew critical stakeholders from Kano, Jigawa, Kebbi, Zamfara, Sokoto, and Katsina states, was “a living testimony that the efforts we are making by going through the nooks and crannies are yielding fruition,” Amb Aisha said.
She said that as the backbone of any progressive society, “involving women in legislative processes would go a long way in resolving many challenges affecting society. And we are happy that people who, before now, are sitting on the fence over the matter are now fully engaged in the campaign.”
The coordinator said that after the Reserved Seats for Women North-West zonal rally in Kaduna, the door-to-door campaign continued with many engagements with high-profile stakeholders in the polity.
Amb. Aisha Yau said just recently, “We had productive meetings with our APC National Party Chairman, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, and the National Woman Leader, Dr Mary Idele Alile. The engagements centred on the status of the bill on Reserved Seats for Women and the way forward. I am happy to announce that the discussions were fruitful, and we’re hopeful that they will yield favourable results soon.”
The North-West coordinator said her delegation also had “an inspiring meeting with the Honourable Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Sa’idu Ahmad. Our engagement focused on advancing women’s participation in governance, particularly the urgent need to strengthen women’s representation in elective positions across all levels of government.
“We discussed practical pathways to dismantle long-standing barriers and push forward the conversation around the Reserved Seats for Women Bill and broader constitutional reforms.”
The Reserved Seats for Women campaign chief said after the zonal event in Kaduna, “My team didn’t relent in diversifying our strategies and deepening our engagements with relevant stakeholders to bolster participation of women in politics and ultimately get more women into the federal and 36 state parliaments.”
The Reserved Seats Bill titled, “A bill for an act to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to provide for seat reservation for women in the National and State Houses of Assembly; and for related matters” is now pending before the National Assembly.
It aims to alter seven sections of the 1999 Constitution, expand the Senate, House of Representatives, and all 36 state assemblies, and mandate the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to delineate special women-only constituencies for four election cycles (16 years) before review.
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