Connect with us

News

Senate considers bill to end discrimination against women in Nigeria Police

Published

on

Senate considers bill to end discrimination against women in Nigeria Police

A bill which seeks to end discrimination against female officers in the Nigerian Police Force was on Thursday introduced to the Nigerian Senate.

The bill wants the gender-discrimination provisions of regulations122, 123, 124 and 127 in the Police Act amended.

Regulation 122 restricts female police officers assigned to the General Duties Branch of the NPF to telephone, clerical and office orderly duties.

Regulation 124 mandates female police officers to apply for permission to marry, while the intending fiance will also be investigated for criminal records.

It also stipulates that a police woman who is single at the time of enlistment must spend three years in service before applying for permission to marry.

Regulation 127 prescribes discriminatory treatment of an unmarried police officer who becomes pregnant.

Leading the debate on the bill, Senator Ezenwa Onyewuchi, said that the duties of the police include prevention and detection of crime, apprehension of offenders, preservation of law and order, protection of life and property, among others.

He, however, said that an analysis of the Act and other policy documents governing the workings of the police reveal a preponderance of discriminatory regulations and workplace practices that reinforce gender discrimination.

On aspects of the discrimination, Onyewuchi said that the examination of gender issues covers various spheres of policy and practice, ranging from language, recruitment, training and posting; to marriage, pregnancy and childbearing.

He decried regulation 124 of the Act which demands that a policewoman who is desirous of marrying must first apply in writing to the commissioner of police in the state she is serving, requesting permission to marry and providing the name, address, and occupation of the person she intends to marry.

Permission will be granted for the marriage if the police consider the intended husband of good character and the woman police officer has served in the Force for a period of not less than three years.

127 – Pregnancy of unmarried women police
This part says an unmarried woman police officer who becomes pregnant shall be discharged from the police, and shall not be re-enlisted except with the approval of the Inspector-General.

According to the lawmaker, the above regulations of the Police Act were enacted in 1968, “at a time when the societal attitude towards women in the workplace was very different from what it is today.

“This is more so as there is no rational justification for the imposition of these discriminatory provisions, since they do not in any manner promote the efficiency or discipline of the female’ police officer.

“And today, women occupy very senior roles in the police and have shown themselves to be just as competent and as disciplined as their male counterparts. Since a male police officer is not subjected to the same inhibitions, the current regulations are inconsistent.

“There is, therefore, a need to expunge the above regulations as it is not reasonably justifiable in a democratic State like Nigeria which has domesticated the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and ratified the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).”

Contributing, the Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, recalled that a similar bill was brought in the sixth Senate but with regards to immigration or prisons.

He said there was need to amended the law in order to give dignity to the female folks and to also ensure that “what a man can do, a woman can also do it.”

He added, “It is very strange to find such provisions in the Act which is discriminatory in the sense that the male counterpart doesn’t have the same restriction.

“A male counterpart can marry a criminal nobody will go to check whether the woman he wants to marry is a criminal or not. A man does not need to write to ask for permission to marry and the question of not being able to bear arms.”

Also contributing, Senator Stella Oduah said, “if you want something to be done efficiently well, you look for a female. If you want something discussed and blabbed about then you look for men.

READ ALSO: Reps to probe MDAs over alleged insurance fraud

“It is not human to do what we are currently doing to these people. How can you say that a woman should take permission before she gets pregnant? but when it suits her boss, he will impregnate her. I want to conclude that I strongly support this particular bill.”

Among other contributions, the bill was passed and was referred to the Senate Committee on Police Affairs to report back in four weeks.

Afterwards, Senate President Ahmad Lawan, urged the lawmakers to look into the laws of other services like Immigration and see if “there are also obnoxious provisions that are targeted against women.”

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now