Hajia Zainab Abubakar Ibrahim, the newly elected Deputy National Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), has issued a fresh and urgent appeal for the creation of constitutionally reserved legislative seats for women in Nigeria. This call aims to dismantle what she describes as decades of systemic exclusion from political decision-making.
A Stark Picture of Underrepresentation
Speaking to journalists on Monday, ahead of crucial National Assembly votes on constitutional amendments, the APC Deputy National Women Leader painted a grim picture of women's participation. She revealed that women currently occupy only four out of 109 seats in the Senate and 17 out of 360 seats in the House of Representatives. Even more alarming, she noted that in approximately 13 states across the federation, women have zero representation in their respective State Houses of Assembly.
"Politics is fundamentally a game of numbers," Ibrahim stated. "When you lack representation, your voice is silenced. This reality is completely unacceptable for a nation that claims to practice modern democracy." She argued that these figures are not accidental but the result of persistent structural barriers that marginalize women.
Proposed Solution: Constitutional Guarantees
To correct this profound imbalance, Hajia Zainab Ibrahim is advocating for specific constitutional changes. Her proposal is straightforward: reserve one Senate seat and one House of Representatives seat per state exclusively for women candidates. This measure, she believes, would guarantee women a mandatory platform to influence policy, champion inclusive governance, and contribute more meaningfully to national development.
The Taraba-born politician emphasized that women bring indispensable perspectives to governance, particularly in critical areas like social welfare, education, and community development. She issued a stark warning, stating that without this deliberate inclusion, Nigeria's democracy remains fundamentally skewed, and the nation's progress is hampered by the absence of half its population from leadership tables.
Leveraging a Historic Mandate for Change
This renewed advocacy follows Ibrahim's own historic election on December 8, 2024, when she became IPAC's first female Deputy National Chairman. That election, monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), coincided with IPAC's adoption of the innovative "twinning" or "zebra" system, designed to enforce gender balance by pairing officeholders with deputies of the opposite gender.
Ibrahim declared her intention to use her influential new position at IPAC as a bully pulpit. She plans to vigorously push for inclusive governance, promote electoral integrity, and actively engage political parties and lawmakers on the critical need for reserved seats. Framing it as a matter of justice, equity, and the future health of Nigerian democracy, she called on the National Assembly to act swiftly and pass the necessary amendments.
