NASS Considering Proposal To Create 74 Seats For Women, Says Bamidele

The National Assembly is considering a constitutional amendment to create special seats reserved for women. The proposal covers both chambers of the National Assembly and every State House of Assembly. Its stated purpose is to increase women’s participation in Nigeria’s politics and governance without removing existing elected seats.

The plan would add 37 seats in the Senate and 37 in the House of Representatives. That means each state and the Federal Capital Territory would receive one additional seat in each National Assembly chamber. At state level, each State House of Assembly would receive three extra seats specifically reserved for women.

The arrangement would not displace current electoral seats. It is proposed to operate for 16 years, or four electoral cycles, before review. Senator Opeyemi Bamidele said the bill is receiving attention and that the initiative followed consultation and consensus-building. It still requires further constitutional steps before taking effect.

The proposed expansion would create 74 additional seats across Nigeria’s National Assembly. The total is divided equally: 37 new seats in the Senate and 37 new seats in the House of Representatives. All of these seats would be reserved for women under the proposed constitutional amendment.

The 37-seat figure corresponds to each state of the federation plus the Federal Capital Territory. If approved, every state and the FCT would gain one additional Senate seat and one additional House of Representatives seat. These would be added seats, not replacements for existing constituencies or senators and representatives.

The proposal is part of the ongoing review of the 1999 Constitution. Senator Opeyemi Bamidele described it as carefully designed and built through consultation and consensus-building. It has not become law. The National Assembly must continue the constitutional amendment process, including securing the required concurrence from State Houses of Assembly.

The constitutional review committee has proposed three additional women-only seats in every State House of Assembly. The idea is to widen women’s representation at the state level while preserving the seats and electoral arrangements that already exist. The proposal therefore adds representation rather than replacing current lawmakers.

For example, a State House of Assembly would keep all its existing electoral seats and receive three more seats reserved for women. The article does not identify a particular state or explain the election method for those seats. It states only that the seats would be additional and specifically reserved for women.

The proposed state-level arrangement would run for 16 years, covering four electoral cycles, before a comprehensive review. Bamidele called this a sunset clause. The committee is engaging State Houses of Assembly because their concurrence is described as constitutionally necessary for the reform to proceed.

The special-seat arrangement is proposed to operate for 16 years. Senator Opeyemi Bamidele described that period as four electoral cycles. Afterward, the arrangement would undergo a comprehensive review rather than continuing indefinitely under the same terms.

This temporary design is called a sunset clause. Its stated purpose is to support sustainability while allowing a more inclusive political culture to develop organically. The clause creates a planned point for examining the reform, instead of treating the initial arrangement as permanent and unchangeable.

The proposal remains under constitutional review. It has been presented as the result of extensive consultation and consensus-building, but it has not yet taken effect. The committee is engaging State Houses of Assembly because their concurrence is a constitutional requirement. The later review could therefore assess the arrangement after four cycles, although the article does not specify what changes might follow.

The proposed seats would require an alteration to the 1999 Constitution. Bamidele said a bill providing special seats for women in the National and State Houses of Assembly is receiving attention at the National Assembly. This means the proposal remains part of a legislative process rather than an arrangement already in force.

A key mechanism is approval from the State Houses of Assembly. Bamidele called their concurrence a constitutional sine qua non, meaning it is essential for bringing the reform to completion. The committee is therefore actively and strategically engaging those assemblies as the amendment process continues.

The article does not list every procedural stage or give a final approval date. It does establish that the National Assembly began the review process early and describes it as deliberate and inclusive. Until the required constitutional steps are completed, the proposed additional seats cannot become part of Nigeria’s governing structure.

Reserving seats could change political representation by ensuring that more women hold legislative positions at national and state levels. The initiative is based on the argument that a democracy is weakened when over half the population is systematically excluded from decision-making. More women lawmakers could bring women’s experiences more directly into debates, oversight, and legislation.

The concrete mechanism is the creation of additional seats rather than the displacement of current ones. The plan would add 37 women’s seats in each National Assembly chamber and three women-only seats in every State House of Assembly. These positions would provide formal access to elected decision-making tables across the federation.

The article links broader representation with laws and programmes addressing healthcare, education, social protection, women, children, and persons with disabilities. However, the proposal is still under review. Its effects would depend on constitutional approval, implementation, and the later assessment planned after 16 years and four electoral cycles.

Representative democracy is a system in which citizens choose lawmakers to make public decisions on their behalf. Those lawmakers represent different communities and take part in deciding laws, policies, and public priorities. The article presents representation as central to democratic legitimacy because decisions should include the people affected by them.

Equal access to elected decision-making positions matters because exclusion can leave major parts of society without a meaningful voice. Bamidele argued that a democracy that systematically excludes over half its population from decision-making tables is, at best, flawed. The proposed special seats would address that concern by adding women’s positions without removing existing seats.

The proposal applies this principle to Nigeria’s National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly. It seeks broader participation while using a 16-year period and later review. The article does not claim that seats alone guarantee equal influence, but it presents formal representation as an important step toward a more inclusive political culture.