Reserved seats bill a weak negotiation for women’s political inclusion

The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, has said the proposed reserved seats for women in Nigeria’s legislatures amounts to a “weak negotiation” that fails to match the scale of women’s political contributions in the country.

Mrs Sulaiman-Ibrahim said this on Tuesday at the Beijing+30 Women’s Summit in Abuja, convened by the Amandla Institute for Policy and Leadership Advancement (AIPLA), in collaboration with the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN–Nigeria) and Womanifesto.

The reserved seats bill seeks to create special legislative seats for women in both the national and state assemblies.

It proposes 37 additional seats for women in the House of Representatives, one for each state and the FCT, 37 seats in the Senate, and three seats per state in the Houses of Assembly (one for each senatorial district).

These new seats would not restrict women from contesting in existing constituencies.

Lawmakers introduced the bill following years of public criticism of Nigeria’s poor global ranking on women’s political representation, despite women forming almost half of the population.

‘We are negotiating for less’

Mrs Sulaiman-Ibrahim welcomed the renewed effort but argued that the proposal still short-changes Nigerian women.

She said that although she supports the idea of the reserved seats bill, she does not fully agree with it because she believes it limits women’s potential.

According to her, women deserve far more and should not settle for a watered-down compromise.

She dismissed the argument that Nigeria should “start small,” noting that countries with strong female representation pursued bold reforms from the outset.

She added that women form the backbone of the electorate and play a decisive role in elections, questioning why they continue to accept limited political power despite their numbers and influence.

A defining step

PREMIUM TIMES had earlier reported that Mrs Sulaiman-Ibrahim, speaking in Abuja on 4 December, described the Special Seats Bill as a defining step toward correcting Nigeria’s long-standing gender imbalance in governance.

She highlighted the scale of women’s underrepresentation, noting that although Nigeria has over 104 million women, only 21 women currently serve in the National Assembly, four senators and 17 members of the House of Representatives.

She added that only 48 of the country’s 991 state lawmakers are women, and that 13 states have no female legislators at all.

She told the audience that these gaps were not a reflection of women’s competence or capacity, but the product of “decades of structural and systemic barriers” that continue to shut women out of political decision-making.

Structural challenges limiting women

Mrs Sulaiman-Ibrahim highlighted systemic barriers that keep women out of politics.

She said men often benefit from political godfathers, collaborative structures, advance planning, and significantly more financial backing.

She argued that women were trying to bargain for political space without real leverage, making the entire process fundamentally flawed.

Mrs Sulaiman-Ibrahim added that Nigeria’s poor performance on global gender representation indices often exposes her to embarrassment at international forums, where delegates question the country’s low number of elected women.

She said she hopes this will improve while she is still in office so she can “hold her head high,” but questioned whether the current approach truly addresses the underlying problems.

READ ALSO: EDITORIAL: More seats for women in parliament; an overdue idea

Calling for the sustained efforts to improve women’s representation and rights, Erelu Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, co-founder of AIPLA and former Ekiti First Lady, said Nigeria’s poor performance on global gender equality indicators remains a major barrier to women’s advancement.

She said the institute would continue to push for stronger awareness of women’s rights, gender justice, and feminist leadership development.