National Assembly (Nigeria)
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The National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is a bicameral legislature established under section 4 of the Nigerian Constitution. It consists of a Senate with 109 members[1] and a 360-member[2] House of Representatives. The body, modeled after the federal Congress of the United States, is supposed to guarantee equal representation with 3 senators to each 36 states irrespective of size in the Senate plus 1 senator representing the Federal Capital Territory and single-member district, plurality voting in the House of Representatives. The National Assembly, like many other organs of the Nigerian federal government is based in Abuja in the Federal Capital Territory.
Leadership
The Senate is chaired by the
OFFICE | NAME | TERM |
President of the Senate
|
Godswill Akpabio | 13 June 2023–present |
Speaker of the House of Representatives
|
Tajudeen Abbas | 13 June 2023–present |
Functions
The Assembly has broad oversight functions and is empowered to establish committees of its members to scrutinise
In spite of a more than two-thirds majority control of the Assembly by the then ruling
The Senate has the unique power to impeach
appointments, and independent federal commissions.Before any bill may become law, it must be agreed to by both the House and the Senate, and receive the president's assent. Should the president delay or refuse assent (veto) the bill, the Assembly may pass the law by two-thirds of both chambers and overrule the veto and the president's consent will not be required.
Support
The
National Assembly State Delegations
Women in the National Assembly
Currently, there are a total of 21 women serving in the National Assembly, 8 in the Senate
In Nigeria, men and women have an equal right to participate in public office, which is guaranteed to them by the constitution. Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria bestows upon Nigerian citizens the right to belong to any political party, trade union or any other association for the protection of his interests. Many initiatives have been taken by the Nigerian government to promote the participation of women in politics and public service. In the 2000 National Policy on Women, the Nigerian government pledged to ensure that women participate in politics equally to men, implementing an affirmative action quota of 30% increase in participation. In the 2003 elections, some parties waived nomination fees for women in order to lower the barriers to participation.[10] There are many civil society groups that focus on the interests of women who want to participate in politics. The Forum of Nigerian Women in Politics is an influential group that operates with the goal of empowering women. They have requested that the Nigerian government yield 30% female representation in government appointments.[11]
Women in Nigeria face many barriers to political participation. These include cultural practices, threat of intimidation or violence, high cost of election, inadequacy of willing and educated women, and issues regarding indigeneity. Women who are married outside their constituencies of birth but run for election in the constituencies of their marriage are often marked as non-indigene by the community.[12]
Women face multiple obstacles that limit them in their political participation, and this has an effect on the amount of women who are represented in government. These obstacles are related to the high cost of politics, which prevents women for standing for positions, as some women are not able to afford the mandatory expression of interest and nomination forms.[13] These forms are required by political parties to run for positions on their platforms in addition to the campaign costs.[13] Women are disproportionately affected by this because there is inadequate access to education for women compared to their male counterparts and poor access to education translates to poor access to gainful employment, unpaid labor, unequal access to inheritance rights, and discrimination - all obstacles that limit the participation of women in politics.[13]
Mercy Ette argues that there has been less participation of women in politics as a result of the influence of the media. She argues that the media has reinforced a patriarchy in politics and has downplayed the participation of women in politics.[14] The failure of political parties to choose women as strong candidates has also contributed greatly to lack of effective participation of women in politics. These women are often given subordinate positions where they are able to change little to nothing or affect decisions in the political society.[15] Despite the challenges faced by women in Nigerian politics, there has been an increasing number of female participation in politics over the years. In 1999 3 women were elected to the senate and 12 to the House of Representatives after two rounds of elections. Later the number of women in senate has gone up to 8 in 2007, but this number later dropped in 2011.[16] The overall national average for women participation is around 6% for elective and appointive positions which is below the West African sub regional average of 15%. Nigeria ranks the 32nd out of the 35 sub Saharan countries when it comes to representation of women in politics. The upcoming 2023 elections is facing similar criticisms, as there are just 6 female aspirants who have joined the presidential race to succeed Muhammadu Buhari.[17]
Gallery
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Nigeria's National Assembly Building
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Nigeria Senate Building (Red Chamber)
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Nigeria's National Assembly Building with the Mace
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National Assembly Complex
See also
- List of committees of the National Assembly of Nigeria
- List of legislatures by country
- Nigerian First Republic(1963–1966)
- Nigerian Second Republic(1979–1983)
- Nigerian Third Republic(1993)
- Nigerian Fourth Republic(1999–present)
- Elections in Nigeria
- Politics of Nigeria
- Women members of National Assembly (Nigeria)[18]
References
- ^ "About The Senate". National Assembly (Nigeria). Archived from the original on 30 August 2018. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
- ^ "About The House". National Assembly (Nigeria). Archived from the original on 28 July 2018. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
- S2CID 158523324
- ^ Odeyemi, Temitayo (11 October 2023). "Nigerian legislatures need to repair their poor relationship with the people". Africa at LSE blog. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
- ^ ICT, NILS. "National Institute for Legislative Studies". nils.gov.ng.
- ^ Assembly, Nigerian National. "National Assembly - Federal Republic of Nigeria". nassnig.org.
- ^ "The Nation Newspaper Nigeria - Read Latest Nigeria News". The Nation. Nigeria.
- ^ a b "Data on women in national parliament". Parline: the IPU’s Open Data Platform. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
- ^ "House of Representatives Member | Honourable Patricia Etteh". 12 October 2007. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
- ^ doi:10.12816/0018802.
- OCLC 711054749.
- ^ Arowolo, Dare; Aluko, F.S. (1 June 2010). "Women and political participation in Nigeria". 14: 581–593.
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(help) - ^ a b c Agbalajobi, Damilola (3 May 2021). "Nigeria has few women in politics: here's why, and what to do about it". The Conversation. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
- S2CID 149339769.
- hdl:10520/EJC123796.
- S2CID 247456340.
- ^ "2023 PRESIDENCY: Where are the women?". Vanguard News. 16 April 2022. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
- ^ Akinola, Wale (20 June 2021). "Meet 19 female lawmakers out of 469 members of ninth National Assembly". Legit.ng - Nigeria news. Retrieved 12 May 2022.