User:Chiemezie Atama/sandbox

Nigeria
There have been some tremendous success across Africa towards advocating for women inclusion in politics, however available evidence suggests that majority of African countries including Nigeria are still behind the bench mark. Women in Nigeria remain one of the most underrepresent in politics in the whole of Africa. According to the 2019 report of the International Parliamentary Union, Nigeria has one of the lowest rates of female representation in parliament across Africa, and globally, ranks 181 out of 193 countries. At 5.6 percent, Nigeria ranks below the sub-Saharan African average of 20 percent women’s representation in the national legislature. Available record shows a disconnection between the publicized commitments to various international protocols on gender equality and the active participation of women in structures of governance and decision making in Nigeria Women participation in politics remains stunted and the clamor for the attainment of the 35 percent gender-based affirmative action has remained a wild goose chase in the country. Records show that in the 8th National Assembly, which was constituted in 2015, there were 8 women out of 109 members in the House of Senate (constituting about 6.4 percent) and 14 women out of 360 members of the House of Representatives (representing 4.6 percent). Similarly, in the 9th National Assembly, which was inaugurated in 2019, the number of female senators (7) remained unchanged while the number of women in the House of Representatives declined to 11, constituting 3.6% of the total membership of the lower chamber. This is grave under-representation, considering that women constitute about 50% of Nigeria’s population.

Women underrepresentation in politics in Nigeria have been traced to a number of historical trajectory.

 * 1) Patriarchy
 * 2) Exclusion of women in Nigeria constitution development processes
 * 3) Non compliance to National Gender Policy