Nigeria’s top-down approach toward improving gender inclusion

A gender equality bill was blocked in Nigeria’s Senate last week (16 December). It was the third attempt in five years by the bill sponsor Abiodun Olujimi, who is from southwest Ekiti state and belongs to the main opposition People’s Democratic Party. However, resistance to change stems more from religious differences between the country’s north and south than party-political affiliation. Conservative forms of Islam are prominent in the north in a way that has inclined its political and religious leaders away from enshrining equal protection for women under the law at a federal level.

Consequently, the top-down approach where the National Assembly enacts a federal law and then states adopt the law appears to be unviable here. There is more bandwidth for legislative reform at subnational levels, and the path toward improving gender inclusion nationwide will most likely be through incremental changes made state by state – particularly in the non-Sharia states. This month for instance, Kwara state enacted legislation that requires the governor to appoint women to at least 35% of cabinet and other political positions in government.

Significance – Building from the top

Women’s representation at the top of Nigeria’s private sector compares favourably with the rest of the world. Last year, one in five board directors at the top 20 publicly listed companies in the country were women – higher than the global average.[1] But representation in the political system has increased only very slowly since the country returned to civilian rule in 1999. Men currently make up 94% of the Senate and House of Representatives while all of the country’s 36 states have a male governor. Only three senior ministers in Buhari’s cabinet are women compared to six in the last administration. The Gender and Equal Opportunities (GEO) Bill was developed to address this imbalance.

First presented in 2010 by Senator Christina Anyawu, the GEO Bill lays out basic rules to ensure equal protection and prevent discrimination in society on the basis of sex. It proposes to grant a woman automatic custody of her child and an ‘equitable’ share of her husband’s estate if he dies. It also proposes a stopgap where 35% of political positions in the country are reserved for women for the next 10-25 years. But there is stiff opposition. Not with the idea of quotas – Nigeria’s constitution effectively requires affirmative action on ethnicity to ensure the ‘federal character’ of national institutions be respected i.e., that all parts of the country get a fair share of power and resources. For instance, the president is required to appoint at least one cabinet minister or deputy minister from every state to broaden ethnic representation in the government. It is the extension of this set of concepts to gender inclusion that is problematic.

Lawmakers fear the proposed legislative approach to gender equality will be viewed as inimical to dominant cultural and religious beliefs in the north particularly – or they calculate that the political risks are too high.  Northern religious leaders like the Sultan of Sokoto Mohamed Sa’ad Abubakar are opposed[2]. Versions of Sharia law are enforced in 12 of the 19 states in the North East, North Central and North West. General elections are due in just over a year from now, so opinion from the clerics is particularly puissant. Even Senator Olujimi, the gender equality bill sponsor, has declared that she is running for governor in her home state Ekiti in 2022 – meaning she must now preserve political capital. Finally, gender inclusion has fallen down the political agenda in Nigeria compared to a decade ago as the country is now grappling with more severe economic and security crises. Unemployment has since increased tenfold for example.

Even so, the Political Offices (Gender Composition) Act signed this month in Kwara, a northern state, demonstrates that significant progress can still be made at the state level while women’s rights proponents at the national level struggle to find the bandwidth. Since September, at least three more states have also signed into law a Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Bill that first became federal legislation in 2015.[3] More than 18 out of 36 states have now adopted the law.

Outlook – Path to inclusion

It is not clear who will champion the gender equality bill in the National Assembly when Olujimi exits the Senate, and so the outlook for new federal lawmaking is dim given the status quo in the northern states with versions of Sharia in effect. However, there is far more room for legislative reform at subnational levels as evidenced by recent changes in some states. Successes in states where gender legislation is being applied could inspire stakeholders in others and assuage their reservations. This way, incremental changes made state by state could create a viable path toward improving gender inclusion nationwide.

—

[1] Female board positions show Nigeria beats world average (August 2020). Bloomberg.

[2] Nigeria’s Sultan of Sokoto rejects gender equality bill (December 2016). BBC

[3] Adamawa, Imo and Osun.

—

We are an African-owned and managed firm delivering local knowledge supporting transformative and sustainable strategic decision-making. Do get in touch if you require assistance: advisory@songhaiadvisory.com