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Fifteen states in Nigeria, including Abia, Rivers, Zamfara, and Kano failed to elect female representatives into their state Houses of Assembly in the 2023 General Elections.

This was revealed by a social inclusion and governance expert, Olumide Olaniyan, yesterday, in Abuja at the Technical Session on the Seat Reservation for Women Bill and the Public Presentation of the National Women Leaders Forum’s Operational Guidelines.

The technical session was organised by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) in collaboration with the National Women Leaders Forum (NWLF) of Political Parties in Nigeria.

Olaniyan, who said the lack of representation cut across the six geopolitical zones of the country, listed the other states as Osun, Imo, Yobe, Bauchi, Niger, Borno, Gombe.

Others are Jigawa, Kebbi, Katsina and Sokoto.

He lamented that despite women being 49 per cent of the country’s population, Nigeria ranks 180th out of 192 countries for women’s parliamentary representation.

Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, at the event, described the underrepresentation of women in positions of power in Nigeria as a major setback to national progress, stressing that it was a stain on the country’s collective conscience.

He said Nigeria’s democracy was incomplete due to the underrepresentation of women in positions of power.

https://guardian.ng/politics/abia-rivers-zamfara-kano-11-others-lack-female-lawmakers/