RipplesMetrics: The numbers show Nigerian women performed poorly in 2023 general elections

Female participation in the politics and governance of Nigeria has been way down below average since the country’s transition to representative democracy in 1999. Nigerian women seem comfortable in the back seat judging by their poor outings every election year.

Females make up about 49 per cent of the country’s population; and according to the 2023 voter register of the Independent National Electoral Commission, of a total of 93,469,008 people who registered to vote, 44,414,846 or 47.5 per cent were females. Yet, in the just concluded election, females who contested elective positions from federal to state levels performed poorly, even more poorly than in previous elections.

Civil society organisations, especially gender advocates had tried to raise female participation through legislation but several bills seeking gender equality and improved participation of women in politics were rejected by the 9th National Assembly. One of the bills sought to allocate 35 per cent of political positions based on appointment to women; while another legislation sought to create special seats for women in National and State Assemblies. Both were trashed by the lawmakers at their second reading.

Having failed to secure more elective seats through legislation, one would expect the women to channel their energy into voting and making a statement at the last polls, but even before the first ballot was cast, they gave a glimpse of another poor outing. Only ten per cent of all the candidates were women. Out of 15,307 candidates that contested all elective positions in the 2023 general elections, only 1,550 were women. There was only one female presidential candidate and no female Vice-Presidential candidate across the 18 parties that contested the presidential elections.

For the senatorial election, only 92 of 1,101 candidates were women; only 286 women out of 3,107 candidates for the House of Representatives; 25 women contested for governor in 28 states out of the 419 candidates. For State Houses of Assembly, only 1,019 out of 10,240 candidates were women.

So how did these women fare in the elections?

Federal Parliaments

Only three females made it to the list of elected Senators in the 2023 election; this is the lowest when compared to the last two elections. There were seven female senators in the 8th Assembly inaugurated in 2015, and six in the 9th Assembly inaugurated in 2019. The only three women who won out of 92 female candidates are the Labour Party’s Ireti Kingibe from the FCT; Ipalibo Harry Banigo of the Peoples Democratic Party from Rivers West District; and Idiat Adebule representing the All Progressives Congress and Lagos West District.

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In the House of Representatives election, females claimed only 15 out of the 360 seats. This is just a little higher than in 2019 when 13 women were elected into the House. Women occupied 19 House of Reps seats between 2015 and 2019.

Nigeria ranks lowest in female representation in African national parliaments. According to Statista, females have only 3.6% representation in Nigeria’s federal parliament. Rwanda and South Africa top the chart with females making up 61% and 46% of their national parliaments respectively.

State Elections

Nigeria is yet to produce a democratically elected female governor. None was elected in the 2023 governorshi[p polls, even though Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed of the All Progressive Congress in Adamawa State only came close to winning. She was announced runner-up to Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri in a fiercely contested election.

Although they are often considered for the position of Deputy Governor, they are still outnumbered by men in this position. Out of a hundred women who contested the positions of deputy governors in 28 states, only seven won in the following states: Ebonyi, Plateau, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Ogun, Kaduna, and Adamawa. Albeit still low, this number is higher when compared to 2015 and 2019, when six and four women were elected respectively.

Out of the 1,019 females who contested seats in state houses of assembly, only 48 won. There were 990 seats across the 36 states, so females are occupying less than five percent of the seats. Meanwhile, 15 states do not have a female lawmaker in the current political dispensation. They are Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Yobe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Abia, Imo, Niger, Osun, and Rivers states. In the other 21 states, the number of female members is also remarkably low. Ekiti has the highest number of female lawmakers with only six women out of 32 members.

In total, only 73 women were successful out of 1,550 women that contested various elective positions in the 2023 polls.

Meanwhile, it should be noted that female representation in politics is low globally. The United Nations (UN) has predicted that at the current rate, gender inequality in the highest levels of government will persist for the next 130 years.

By Oluwatobi Odeyinka

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