The anticipation of having more women in the national and state assemblies in the 2027 election cycle is hanging in the balance. This is as a result of delay in the completion of the review of the 1999 Constitution (1999) by the National Assembly expected to create a legal framework for reserved parliamentary seats for women.

Also affected by the delay is the independent candidacy bill, which is seeking to create a legal framework for candidates, who do not belong to political parties, to contest election as independent candidates.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in a timetable for 2027 general election, unveiled last week, fixed party primaries where candidates are expected to be nominated between April 23 to May 30.

This has raised doubt of the constitution review exercise being concluded in good time, to accommodate the reserved seats for women and independent candidacy.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) Deputy National Treasurer, Omorede Osifo, while appealing to the National Assembly to expedite action on the reserved seat bill, told Daily Sun, that the delay in the passage of the proposed legislation might affect the number of women who would be elected into the national and state assemblies in 2027.

Osifo said: “Some of us have tried to contest for parliamentary election several times, but it has not been a nice story. It will be easier if we have reserved seats for women. I pray that they listen to us and pass the bill quickly, so that there can be reserved seats for women at the state houses of assembly, house of representatives and senatorial level.”

Similarly, founder, TOS Foundation, Osasu Igbinedion-Ogwuche, told Daily Sun that, “The delay in the passage of the Reserved Seats for Women Bill by the National Assembly is deeply concerning. This Bill is not about privilege; it is about correcting a structural imbalance that has kept women significantly underrepresented in Nigeria’s National and State Houses of Assembly.

“If this delay extends into the next election cycle, it could significantly diminish the likelihood of meaningful progress in women’s representation. Without constitutional backing, the structural constraints remain intact, and the numbers are unlikely to change substantially. This would mean another electoral cycle in which Nigeria falls short of reflecting the diversity, talent and leadership capacity of its female population.”

The reserved seat and the independent candidacy bill, which are among the 44 proposals approved by the National Assembly Joint Committee on Constitution, seeks special seats for women in the national and state houses of assembly and legal framework for eligible Nigerians, who do not belong to political parties, to contest elections as independent candidates.

Specifically, the reserved bill is seeking the creation of six senate seats, to be drawn from the six geo-political zones, 37 House of Representatives seats, from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), as well as three state assembly seats per senatorial zone to be reserved exclusively for women, so as to address the abysmal number of women in the national and state assemblies.

Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Akin Rotimi, expressed optimism that as soon as the 2026 Appropriation Bill is passed, focus will shift to the constitution alteration bills. Rotimi, while responding to a question on whether the exercise will be concluded early enough for the two bills to take off in the 2027 election cycle, said: “I won’t preempt that, because the bills are before the House. And those bills would also prescribe the sunrise and what you call the transitional provisions. Those are the things that will also be before the parliament to decide if it is going to kick off immediately and all of that.”

The spokesman explained that, “even those bills that relate to elections, including the special seats for women and the independent candidacy, it is also prescribed that there would be subsidiary legislations, to be able to spell the details of how it is going to be. So, we can’t put the cart before the horse. Once the constitution review bills are passed, it will now be up to the INEC to actualise it, by looking at its own provisions to accommodate that new constitutional amendment.” (The Sun)