President Bola Tinubu is preparing to send new bills to the National Assembly to create special lawmaking seats for women and persons with disabilities.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, announced this in Abuja during an event organized by the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations to honor Professor Justin Green, head of the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management.
At the event, Green commended Nigerian leaders for working to give women and disabled persons a stronger voice in government.
Abbas explained that these extra seats will not affect the regular positions that politicians usually contest for.
The House leadership persuaded President Tinubu to back the idea, with the bill for women currently being finalized at the Ministry of Justice, while the bill for persons with disabilities will be presented in a few weeks.
If passed, the plan will create 37 additional seats for women in the Senate and 37 in the House of Representatives, giving one reserved seat to each state and the Federal Capital Territory.
Each State House of Assembly will also create three extra seats for women, covering one for every senatorial district, with the arrangement set to run for 16 years.
A second bill aims to reserve seats for persons with disabilities across national, state, and local government councils, including one seat per geopolitical zone in parliament.
These measures are designed to fix the long-standing problem of low female and marginalized group representation in Nigerian politics.