Senate Minority leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe has called for increase in the number of national assembly seats to get more women involved in governance.
The senator made the argument while addressing the topic ‘Enhancing Women’s Participation and Partnership in Governance and Development’ at ‘Nkata’, a virtual conference, on Saturday.
The virtual event was hosted by Nkata Ndi Inyom Igbo (NNII), a socio-cultural group and think-tank for Igbo women.
Speaking at the conference, Abaribe stated that the number of women in governance had decreased drastically compared to the figures of 1999.
Also Read: Jerry Gana: Nigerians Are Most Miserable In Africa… Nothing Is Moving
He said if nothing is done to close the gap, “we will get to a point where there will be no woman in the senate”.
“Part of the recommendations too was that we have to increase the number in the federal system, and they argued that we have always done so. Then I pointed out to them very saddening statistics: from 1999 there are more women, and with each election cycle, we have less and less,” the senator said.
“The reason why there are fewer women now, I do not know. Maybe people are getting more conservative, or the party in power is far more conservative than the previous one.
“If we continue along the line that we’re going, we will get to a point where there will be no woman in the senate.”
