IT IS DISAPPOINTING THAT THE GENDER EQUALITY BILL COULD NOT BE PASSED, ACCORDING TO SENATE PRESIDENT LAWAN

Ahmad Lawan, President of the Senate, has expressed regret that the 9th Senate, which he presided over, was unable to adopt the Gender Equality Bill, which was anticipated to enhance women's rights in Nigeria.

He stated that, for unfathomable reasons, even bills pertaining to the National Assembly could not see the light of day, but this was not a cause to write off the Senate as underperforming.

Lawan made the remarks on the sidelines of President Muhammadu Buhari's homage on the occasion of Eid-el-Fitr festivities at the State House in Abuja on Friday.

The Senate President, on the other hand, exhorted supporters of such bills not to give up hope and to advocate actively when they are presented again to the 10th National Assembly.

Remember that five bills, out of around 68 legislations or amendments, intended to encourage additional opportunities for women in political parties, governance, and society at large.

However, the National Assembly voted against all five legislation pertaining to women, provoking anger from a wide range of Nigerians.

One of the five measures sought citizenship for the foreign-born husband of a Nigerian lady. A Nigerian man's foreign-born wife is already a Nigerian citizen.

Another law attempted to allot 35% of political jobs to women based on appointment. Another bill aimed to create reserved seats for women in the National and State Assemblies.

His words, "First of all, when the bills, five of them that concern women, were not voted for by the National Assembly. I think naturally, there are things that we assume could happen. But they didn't happen the way we wanted them. But remember that even bills that concern the National Assembly were killed.

"There are bills that concern the National Assembly itself, that did not see the light of the day. I felt bad that we could not pass even one. But then we shouldn't really lose hope, we should continue to campaign, we should talk to more and more members of the National Assembly. And we should also re-strategize.

"Maybe the kind of campaign that was undertaken may not be necessarily the one that will give you the kind of outcome that we needed. But I'm very confident that we should continue to campaign for issues that we have not been able to get right.

"Let me give you an example. The bill on Mayor for FCT, almost every constitutional amendment period Mayor of FCT will surface. But it has not been passed. Does that mean that we shouldn't continue to ask for a Mayor for FCT, those that feel there should be a Mayor? No!

"There are issues that concerned the National Assembly itself that were not really passed. So I felt bad that we couldn't pass any of them. But I'm also very optimistic that if we re-strategize, look at the way we campaign we could get either all of them or some of them passed in the next Assembly by the grace of God."