House of Representatives has rescinded its decision to reject bills related to women in the recent constitution amendment being conducted by the National Assembly.
The affected bills includes Criteria for Qualification to become an Indigene of a State in Nigeria, the Bill to Expand the Scope of Citizenship by Registration as well as the Bill to Provide for Affirmative Action for Women in Political Party Administration.
Presenting a motion on the floor of the house, the Chairman House Committee on Rules and Business Alh Abubakar Hassan Fulata, said the three bills failed to secure the required two third votes when the House was adopting the report of it’s Special Committee on Constitution Amendment.
He said for any bill to be passed by the house it needs to secure the approval of Two-Third members of the House while the women’s Bills got less than 240 Votes at the consideration exercise.
Supporting the motion, Mr. Toby Okechukwu said the move was to ensure that women are better accommodated in the governance as they constitute about 50% of the Nigerian population.”
In a remark, the Speaker House of Representatives, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila said if the bills failed to have common decision with the Senate, the two Chambers will harmonize their position.
However, for the Provisions for Special Seat for Women in the National and State Houses of Assembly is still pending hoping to be rescinded as well.
The move to rescind the house decision came at a time when a coalition of women from different parts of the country staged a protest at the National Assembly’s gate over what they described as disappointment and disrespect to women by the legislators.
COV /TSIBIRI