Nigeria Senate Minority Eyinnaya Abaribe, says the senate may not revisit the gender bills rejected by the National Assembly.
Gatekeepers News reports that Abaribe said “the senate is not reconsidering revisiting the bill.”
Abaribe said this on 90MinutesAfrica, an online interview programme, hosted by Rudolf Okonkwo and Chido Onumah.
On March 1, Federal lawmakers voted against a bill seeking to provide special seats for women in the National and State Houses of Assembly.
They also rejected a bill seeking to provide “reserve quota” for women on appointments.
Following this, Gatekeepers News reported that several women’s groups and civil society activists who have been demanding a reconsideration of the bills have engaged in protests.
Thereafter, the House of Representatives made a u-turn on its decision on three ”gender bills” in the constitution amendment.
Abaribe during the interview, said there is no provision for the bills in the senate schedule for the remainder of its tenure.
The minority leader said even if the bills were to be reconsidered, they would have to be reintroduced as fresh bills.
He added that the political and electioneering activities ahead of the 2023 elections would make that process difficult to achieve because “senators may not pay attention to the bills as they would be engrossed in ensuring their survival in the political field.”
However, Abaribe said there was a glimmer of hope if both chambers of the National Assembly agree to fast track the process.
He further explained how the gender bills were “debated, voted and agreed” upon in the committee sessions.
Abaribe said, “The members of the committee came from all parts of the country. So, after agreeing on the gender bills at the committee level we thought they would be passed easily on the floor of the Senate without too much problem.”
The minority leader expressed surprise that the bills were overwhelmingly rejected by senators during voting and pointed out that the action of the senators shows that the “influence of gender and cultural patterns is still very strong and preeminent in their thinking.”
