March 01, (THEWILL) – The National Assembly on Tuesday voted against the provision of special seats for women in the legislature.
Members of the two chambers rejected the provision during voting on clause 68 being considered in the ongoing constitutional amendment.
The bill seeks to create special seats for women in the Senate, House of Representatives, and State Houses of Assembly by creating one special seat in each state of the federation and the FCT reserved solely for women without prejudice to their eligibility to contest in the existing senatorial seats in each state and the FCT.
The bill reads: “A Bill for an Act to Alter the Provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to Provide for Special Seat for Women in the National and State Houses of Assembly; and for Related Matters.”
For the House of Representatives, the bill proposed two additional seats for each state and the FCT to be reserved for women without prejudice to their eligibility to contest for the other seats.
And in the Houses of Assembly of each state, one additional seat from each of the three Senatorial District is proposed solely for women.
However, while the house voted 81-208 to throw the bill out, the senate had a 30-58 vote.
Meanwhile, senators and members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday unanimously rejected bills seeking to grant life pension to presiding officers of the National Assembly.
The bill seeks to alter the provisions of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to provide pension for presiding officers of the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly, and for related matters.
When the bill was put to voting, 162 House of Representatives members voted against it while three abstained.
The senate also vetoed the proposal.
Meanwhile, the senate and House of Representatives have passed a bill for an act mandating the president and governors to submit nominees for ministers and commissioners within 30 days of swearing-in.
While 92 senators voted in favour of the bill with one abstention, 289 members of the Green Chambers voted in favour of the bill.
