Eyinnaya Abaribe, minority leader of the senate, says the
senate may not revisit the gender bills rejected by the national assembly.
Abaribe said this on Sunday on 90MinutesAfrica, an online
interview programme, hosted by Rudolf Okonkwo and Chido Onumah.
Federal lawmakers, on
March 1, voted against a bill seeking to provide special seats for women in the
national and state houses of assembly.
Also rejected was a bill seeking to provide “reserve quota”
for women on appointments.
The decision was
followed by protests by women’s groups and civil society activists who have
been demanding a reconsideration of the bills.
Subsequently, the house of representatives rescinded its
decision on three ”gender bills” in the constitution amendment.
But speaking on Sunday, Abaribe said there is no provision
for the bills in the senate schedule for the remainder of its tenure and that
“the senate is not reconsidering revisiting the bill”.
He said even if the bills were to be reconsidered, they
would have to be reintroduced as fresh bills, adding 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”.
He, however, said there was a glimmer of hope if both
chambers of the national assembly agree to fast track the process.
Speaking further, Abaribe explained how the gender bills
were “debated, voted and agreed” upon in the committee sessions.
“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,” he said.
He 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”.
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