Constitution Review: Dep Speaker seeks U.S partnership for electoral reforms, women representation

By Tom Okpe

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep Benjamin Okezie Kalu on Wednesday, advocated for partnership with the United States Government to support Nigeria’s efforts in promoting gender equity and electoral reforms.

Kalu made the call during a meeting with a delegation from the U. S Embassy in Nigeria led by David Frost, a political counsellor and Cassandra Carrony at the National Assembly, Abuja.

The Deputy Speaker who also Chairman, House Committee on constitution Review, said the collaboration would be on 3 key areas of techinical expertise, advocacy and capacity building.

He emphasised the need to share comparative insights on gender responsive electoral systems; amplify stakeholder engagement with civil society, media, political Parties and co-create, women’s legislative leadership programme to train future female lawmakers.

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He said: “How do we partner with the US? We seek the US Embassy support in various areas, technical expertise, share comparative insight on gender responsive, electoral system. Let’s know how you’ve done it and succeeded; advocacy, amplify stakeholders engagement with civil society, media and political party.

“You already have structures. We can adopt those structures and make them to reflect what we want to achieve with this particular mission. It’s not a fanciful outing. It’s impact oriented. We need to capacitate those that will drive the impact and it’s through this strategic partnership.

“For traditional rulers, we are thinking as a committee to integrate them into constitution and assigning roles to them, to help enhancing national cohesion and unity.”

Kalu also said the Constitution Review Committee has prioritized women participation in governance, Judiciary, Local Government Reforms, the Youth, amongst others.

He cited low representation of women in legislative seats nationwide, stressing that the Committee has proposed adding special seats for women in the Senate, House of Representatives, and State Assemblies.

“Nigeria’s democracy remains incomplete so long as half its population – its women – are relegated to the sidelines. Today, women hold a mere 4% of legislative seats nationwide. In some states, like Kano and Sokoto, not a single woman sits in the State Assembly. This is not just a failure of representation; it is a failure of justice.

“As a result of our wide consultations and engagements with various stakeholders, the committee is resolved to adding one Special Seat per state in the Senate and the House of Representatives at the national level and one seat per senatorial district at the sub-national level.

“To correct this imbalance, we have introduced the Special Seats
Bill (HB 1349) – a 16-year Temporary Special Measure to reserve 182 additional legislative seats for women (37 Senate, 37 House, 108 State Assemblies). This bill addresses systemic barriers – financial exclusion, electoral violence, and patriarchal norms – by creating women-only constituencies”, he said.

The Deputy Speaker also hinted that the zonal public hearing on the thematic areas of the constitution review process will commence soon across the 6 geopolitical zones.

Kalu further stressed that the constitution review is a moral covenant with future generations, not just a legislative exercise, urging a broad-based public participation and partnership with the U.S. Embassy to ensure that Nigeria’s constitution becomes a beacon of equity, security, and prosperity.

“Our constitutional review is not just a legislative exercise it is a moral covenant with future generations. With the U.S. Embassy’s partnership, we can ensure Nigeria’s next Constitution becomes a beacon of equity, security, and prosperity. Let us move beyond rhetoric to action to co-design a Nigeria-U.S. Governance Innovation Hub to pilot reforms and host joint workshops on state policing models and gender responsive budgeting,” Kalu said.

Earlier, the US delegation said their mission to the National Assembly was to explore areas of collaboration with the Deputy Speaker’s Office on the ongoing constitution review.

“We met with the Deputy Speaker very briefly when PLAC hosted an event at the Hilton, about LG autonomy. It’s one of the things we are here to talk about. The focus here today is on the work of the Constitution Review Committee. The purpose of our visit is to further the collaboration we had, all these years. It’s important to maintain this connection and communication”, the delegation noted.