‘Nigeria Can’t Grow Without Women in Power’

Women’s rights advocates and senior government officials have warned that Nigeria’s development will continue to stagnate unless women were intentionally included in leadership and lawmaking. The call was made at the 1st Parliamentary Stakeholders Power Table on the Reserved Seats for Women Bill held in Kaduna. Leaders urged parliamentarians to demonstrate genuine political will by […]

Women’s rights advocates and senior government officials have warned that Nigeria’s development will continue to stagnate unless women were intentionally included in leadership and lawmaking.

The call was made at the 1st Parliamentary Stakeholders Power Table on the Reserved Seats for Women Bill held in Kaduna.

Leaders urged parliamentarians to demonstrate genuine political will by passing the bill currently before the House of Representatives.

Convener and women’s rights advocate Hon. Nita Byock George, stressed that empowering women in governance is not a symbolic gesture but a prerequisite for national progress.

• FG Unveils NYSC Reform, Sets Up N2bn Innovation Fund
• Troops Rescue Traders, Kill Bandits in Foiled Sokoto Ambush

“It is now left for us to join our voices to discourse,” she told participants, emphasizing that the bill represents a historic opportunity.

“We’re not here to read long speeches; we’re here to address the issue for what it is.”

George noted that many organisations had already invested heavily in advocacy, but the decisive step must now come from federal lawmakers.

“This is an opportunity for everyone to advocate that the House of Representatives votes for the Reserved Seats for Women Bill,” she said.

She argued that Nigeria could not afford to exclude half its population from critical decision-making spaces.

“Can you imagine a home existing without a woman?” she asked. “Now imagine that a nation as blessed as Nigeria does not have sufficient women having their voices in policy and lawmaking. That’s actually important.”

According to her, true national development requires deliberate political action.

“If our parliamentarians say that they are for Nigerians, then now is the time for them to prove that they actually believe in Nigerian women and the role we have to play to make the nation a great nation,” she said.

George also highlighted recent progress in Kaduna State, pointing to a newly launched gender desk and a government-backed policy prioritising women in procurement.

She praised state leaders for “all their efforts to ensure that women are put in front of the lagging KADPPA states.”

At the federal level, she acknowledged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s gender inclusion efforts but insisted that “it is not enough.”

Her remarks were echoed strongly by Barrister James Kanyip, Kaduna State Commissioner of Justice.

He stressed that women were not passive beneficiaries but the true engine of electoral victories in Nigeria.

“No person in Nigeria has ever won an election without the contribution of women,” he declared.

“Women make men politically relevant. So what is wrong with making yourselves politically relevant as well?”

Highlighting women’s political reliability, Kanyip added, “When a woman says she will vote for you, you can go home and sleep because she means it.”

“Why should the same people who make others politically relevant still need legislation to validate their own relevance?” he asked, challenging women to organize and assert their political strength. “You must use your political force Your numerical strength alone should be enough motivation.”

Advocates expressed hope that the House of Representatives will pass the bill in the coming week, paving the way for Senate consideration.