Nigerian women least represented in governance – NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics has disclosed that women have continued to record low representation in all tiers and levels of governance.

This observation is contained in the NBS Statistical Report on Women and Men in Nigeria, for 2021, released in Abuja, on Tuesday.

The report noted that in spite of all the efforts to promote the contribution of women in the political domain and decision-making process, women have remained the least represented in governance.

Women, it meanwhile noted, constituted almost half of the electorate.

The report further observed that in Nigeria, women have never been appointed as Secretary to the Government of the Federation, nor elected as President or Vice-President since independence and the return of democracy in 1999 to the last election in 2019.

It maintained that the highest representation in the National Parliament of 7.2 per cent was recorded in 2007-2011.

“It was 6.6 per cent each in 2011 – 2015 and 2015 – 2019,” the NBS report noted.

According to NBS, a total of six women and 73 men occupied principal positions in the Senate in 2016 and 2017.

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It further confirmed that, “The years 2018 and 2019 had the same figure of seven women and 72 men as principal officers.

“Only nine women out of 106 members of the House of Representatives occupied principal positions in 2019.”

It informed that from 2016 to 2019, only six women occupied the position of committee chairperson for each year, while in 2018 and 2019, a woman occupied the position of Minority
Senate Leader in the Senate.

The report put current women’s representation in National Parliament (National Assembly) 2019 at 6.2 per cent, while the men make up 93.8 per cent.

The NBS revealed all the more that available data from the Office of the Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF) revealed the number of males and females appointed as ministers from 2016 – 2019.

It stressed, “In 2016, seven females were appointed, this decreased in 2017 to five females.

“Female ministers appointed in 2018 were six and in 2019, only seven were among the 43 appointed ministers.”

In the case of the Judiciary, the report remarked that in Nigeria, 31.87 and 31.98 per cent were female members of National Judicial Officers in 2016 and 2017, respectively, while 2018 recorded 28.86 per cent, indicating a drop.

It said no female had been appointed as the Chief Justice of Nigeria, President of the National Industrial Court, and the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court from 2016 to 2018.

“For the same period, females had been the President of the Court of Appeal (National Judicial Council), the NBS report concluded.