The federal government says work on an executive bill to guarantee over 35 per cent representation for women in governance is near completion.
The minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, disclosed this in Lafia, Nasarawa State, during an empowerment programme organised on the directive of the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu.
Sulaiman-Ibrahim said the bill would go beyond the long-canvassed 35 per cent affirmative action and ensure greater inclusion of women in federal appointments and elective positions.
She said the proposed legislation, when transmitted to the National Assembly, would give legal backing to women’s participation in governance and end decades of reliance on political promises.
“Work is at an advanced stage on an executive bill that will go beyond the long-canvassed 35 per cent affirmative action and ensure greater inclusion of women in federal appointments and elective positions,” she said.
“This administration has prioritised women like no other. There is no sector where attention to and investment in women has not increased exponentially.”
The minister noted that despite constituting nearly half of the nation’s population and a majority of voters, women remain grossly under-represented in elective and appointive offices.
She also announced plans by the federal government to provide free menstrual pads for women and girls across the country, following the approval of the National Policy on Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management.
“The President has said if we can have free condoms, we must also have free menstrual pads, because women must menstruate every month. That is the level of prioritisation this administration is giving to women,” Sulaiman-Ibrahim said.
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She said the Lafia outreach was carried out on the explicit directive of the First Lady.
“We are here on the directive of Her Excellency, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, CON, the Mother of the Nation. She sent us to energise our women at the grassroots, to excite them and to reaffirm her commitment to their economic empowerment and social wellbeing,” she said.
Thousands of women drawn from the 13 local government areas of Nasarawa State attended the programme, where deep freezers, refrigerators, sewing machines, grinding machines and specialised market kiosks were distributed.
Between 100 and 200 traders also received direct cash grants of N100,000 each to boost their businesses.
In her remarks, the National Women Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Dr Mary Alile Idele, said the message to Nasarawa women was continuity of the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu.
“The message is simple: we want continuity. In the last three and a half years, this administration has restored stability in our education sector, with uninterrupted academic calendars, and delivered on health, transport, and student welfare. Our women have felt the impact,” Idele said.
Receiving the delegation, the First Lady of Nasarawa State, Hajiya Silifat Abdullahi Sule, thanked the Federal Government for placing mothers and home managers at the centre of national development.
She commended Senator Tinubu for supporting functional infrastructure such as solar-powered community libraries, and charged mothers to be more vigilant in protecting their children and wards from political manipulation and criminal exploitation.
The delegation later extended the empowerment drive to markets and hospitals, where maternity wards, market women and micro-business owners received financial grants, trade equipment and healthcare support.
