PRESS STATEMENT ON THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT OF THE ELECTORAL ACT 2010 ORGANISED BY WOMEN CONSORTIUM OF NIGERIA (WOCON) SOUTH WEST COORDINATING NGO.

WOMEN POLITICAL EMPOWERMENT PROJECT

This Statement became imperative because of the present tension in the polity over the proposed amendment to the 2010 Electoral Act. It is our belief that, if the amendments proposed by majority members of the National Assembly sail through, it will have negative impact on the women populace of Nigeria.

As you may be aware, the country in recent times has passed through very turbulent period which has necessitated the need for an amendment to the constitution and the need for a more defined electoral Act. While some gains have been recorded generally, issues that can advance women’s human rights and political existence are missing in the new developments in the country. Women in Nigeria have once again been relegated to the background by the male dominated political class.

There is no gainsaying that the Nigerian women are underrepresented in our emerging democratic governance. This is in spite of our Government’s various commitments at the International Regional and National levels.  In particular Nigeria endorsed the Beijing Declaration and Platform form for Action (BPFA) which provides for the Affirmative Action Policy and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Goal 3 on gender equality and women’s empowerment and  a National Gender Policy.

Despite all these commitments and the numerical strength of Nigerian women, in this 21st Century women are still underrepresented in decision making positions in the country and for example constitute less than 8% in elective positions at all levels of Governance.

NIGERIAN WOMEN ELECTORAL ACT 2010 AND THE 2011 ELECTIONS
Nigerian women consider 2011 general elections as a golden opportunity to turn around this dismal and low representation of women in elective positions. Unfortunately it appears that women’s political aspirations are being truncated even before they are manifested as a result of the failure of the Government to create a level playing ground for the women.

The  latest action is the attempt by the National Assembly to  thwart women’s political aspiration, through the proposed  new bill seeking to  alter the Electoral Act 2010 in  the following sections amongst others in the Electoral Act:-

“To amend or alter  Section 82(3)(b) of the Principal Act by deleting the words ‘independent candidate’ in line 2 of the above section in the Electoral Act.”

“To amend or alter Section 87(4) of the Electoral Act’s Principal Act, which is to be amended by inserting immediately after the subsection (4)(11) the following new subsections:(12)(A), Every Political Party in Nigeria Shall establish in its constitution a National Executive Committee (NEC), which shall be the highest decision making body of a political party. (B)The membership of the NEC of a political party shall be as follows (i)The president and the former presidents who are members of the party (ii)the vice president  and former vice president who are members of the party(iii)governors, who are members of the party(iv)members of the National Assembly who are members of the party(v) former presiding officers of the National Assembly who are members of the party(vi)Chairman and secretary of the Board of Trustees, where applicable(vii) former National Chairmen(viii) former national chairmen BOT(ix) state Chairmen of the party(x)national officers of the party.(C)The quorum for meeting of the NEC of a political party shall be one half(A1/2) of its total membership(D)All National Executive Committee(NEC) decisions on electoral matters require two-third(2/3) of its quorum.”

It is clear that the proposal above by the National Assembly is to include its members in their Parties National Executive Committee (NEC). Each Party NEC member will then become those delegates who will decide on the candidates to get the Party tickets.

Presently out of the 469 members in the National Assembly 434 are men which is over 92% and only 33 of them are women making the women about 7 %  of total number of the National Assembly Legislators who will be automatic Members of the National Executive Committees of all the Political parties. In addition, there are no female past Presidents or former Presidents or Vice Presidents and amongst the 36 Governors, we do not have a single woman, the proposed amendment also included all the political appointees, majority of who are men as delegates to the Party congresses.

The implication of the above is a systematic exclusion of half of the population and we reject this selfish political manifestation by the male hegemony in Nigeria. These proposed amendments by the National Assembly is synonymous to undemocratically giving the right to chose the candidates for the Political parties exclusively in the hands of the incumbent members of the Assembly and political appointees. To us, it will further exclude women’s political participation and fail the test of democracy which allows for equal participation of all without any form of discrimination. The proposal is lopsided and is indeed dangerous to any thriving democracy.

We believe that the passage of this amendment will infringe on the independence of the political parties. The legislature should avoid dabbling into issues that should be resolved at the levels of the political parties. The male dominated NEC structures of the  Political Parties is the highest decision making body of any party, our position is that such decision making body should be representative of all and should therefore include at least 35% women in accordance to the tenets of democracy.

The proposed amendments at the early stages of the electoral process can truncate the political aspirations of the women at the Party Primaries, some of who, are highly qualified and will not give them a fair opportunity to exercise their rights to vie for elective positions and to be voted for.  The proposal has failed the test for a true democracy and can in no  way  guarantee  any form of   internal democracy neither will such a legislative provision facilitate Nigeria’s achievement of its Commitments to the Millennium  Development Goals particularly Goal 3.

The proposal will also negate the implementation of the National Gender Policy which entrenches affirmative Action policy of 35 % representation for women in aspects of political social and economic endeavours.

Conclusions
The women of Nigeria feel particularly irked that our representatives in the legislature have not taken women’s issues and concerns with the necessary seriousness they deserve, such that the laudable recommendation of the Justice Uwais Constitutional Panel on women’s political rights especially the affirmative action policy was not accepted for inclusion in the amendments to the Constitution and the Electoral Act. We therefore make the following call:

• That the National Assembly should reject in totality the proposed amendment to the Electoral Act which will effectively deny women the opportunity to be elected into the elective positions and contribute their quota for the overall development of the Nation.

• That  the legislators should immediately  refrain from legislating on matters relating to Party organization of  primaries but rather  advocate in their respective political parties  the emulation of  political parties which have in place progressive policies that allow for the appointment of  1male, 1 youth and 1 woman delegate for each ward in order to foster the affirmative action policy.
• That the National Assembly should rather incorporate the Justice Uwais Panel Proposal for parity in political parties and the electoral system particularly the inclusion of gender parity and affirmative Action policy. 
• That the National Assembly should take action to speed up the passage of long standing  proposed Bills on Violence against Women, Domestication of Convention against all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW}, Equal Opportunities Bill to mention a few.

Finally, we reaffirm that the proposed amendment will reduce the image of Nigeria as a democratic government in the comity of nations and will lead to overregulation of political Parties. We therefore call on all well meaning Nigerians, to reject the proposed amendment to the Electoral Act 2010 as an alteration that is inimical to democracy and one that can infringe on the independence of political parties. The proposed amendment portends a danger to the fragile democracy, which we are all nurturing with utmost care.

On at least 35% Representation we STAND, NO WOMAN NO NATION!
 

Issued by:

Bisi Olateru-Olagbegi
Executive Director
Women Consortium of Nigeria (WOCON)

Statement Endorsed by the following organisations and individuals

• WOMEN CONSORTIUM OF NIGERIA (WOCON)
• WOMEN ADVOCATES FOR RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION CENTRE (WARDC)
• WOMEN IN LAW AND DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA (WILDAF) NIGERIA CHAPTER
• GENDER AND CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM NETWORK (GERCORN)
• WOMEN LAW AND DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA (WLDCN)
• GENDER AND DEVELOMENT ACTION (GADA)
• FEMALE LEADERSHIP FORUM (FLF)
• WOMEN’S OPTIMUM DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION (WODEF)
• NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN JOURNALISTS (NAWOJ)
• LEGAL RESEARCH AND RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT CENTRE (LRRDC)
• WOMEN ORGANIZATION FOR REPRESENTATION AND NATIONAL COHESION (WORNACO)
• GENDER AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION ISSUE BASED PROJECT (GAA IBP)
• WOMEN’S RIGHTS ADVANCEMENT AND PROTECTION ALTERNATIVE (WRAPA).
• KUDIRAT INITIATIVE FOR DEMOCRACY (KIND)
• GENERATION NEXT SISTERS FOR DEMOCRACY (GNET SISTERS)
• NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR WOMEN SOCIETY (NCWS)
• NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF TRADERS AND MARKET WOMEN