Akpabio: Senate in support of special legislative seats for women

Senate President Godswill Akpabio says the senate will support a bill that seeks to create special seats for women in the national assembly.

The bill, designed to address women’s underrepresentation in politics, scaled second reading in the house of representatives on July 9, 2024.

Speaking during a visit from a delegation of the UK branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) to his office, Akpabio assured that the 10th assembly will support the bill.

The delegation, which was led by Kate Osamor, UK’s trade envoy to East Africa, requested to hear from Akpabio what support the senate has rendered to the proposed legislation.

“We want to assure you that the bill that you are referring to will be highly supported by us,” Akpabio told the delegation.

He expressed optimism that the CPA UK delegation’s visit would foster a productive partnership, strengthening parliamentary ties through diplomatic exchanges and mutual visits.

“At the end of this visit, we would have formed a strong CPA UK Parliamentary/Nigeria Cooperation that will outlive us and continue to bring about good governance and freedom of speech and freedom of Association, improving trade and also improving the living standard of people in our various countries,” Akpabio said.

Osamor said the visit was aimed at building support for the passage of a special seats bill for women in the Nigerian parliament.

“We really like to hear from you and know what you are doing to support this bill, to ensure it does happen. But I want you to also recognise that this is a cross-party delegation,” she said.

“So we have come as cross-party members from the House of Common and also from the House of Lords, which is similar to the senate.

“We really want to learn from you and exchange ideas and start a very good conversation. If this bill is able to get over the line, we can start to look at other things on how we can work together.”