However, Ifendu who is also a lawyer, said it was high time Nigeria had another female presiding over the Green Chamber either as Speaker or Deputy Speaker, arguing that there are women as high-ranking officers in the House with some returning for the 4th time.
AHEAD of the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly, the Women in Politics Forum, WIPF, has said a female should be made a presiding officer in the House of Representatives.
The National President of WIPF, Ebere Ifendu, who spoke at a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday, said that doing so would not only accord with the country’s National Gender Policy, but also boost to the participation of Nigerian women in democratic governance.
At the briefing, leaders from women’s rights and civil society organisations collectively spoke with one voice to ask that Nigerian women be efficiently represented in the leadership of the next legislative arm of government.
The 10th Assembly would be inaugurated in June as soon as the next president issues a proclamation letter to that effect.
Already, intense lobbying has commenced at both the Senate and the House of Representatives over who becomes the Senate president and Speaker of the lower House, among other positions.
However, Ifendu who is also a lawyer, said it was high time Nigeria had another female presiding over the Green Chamber either as Speaker or Deputy Speaker, arguing that there are women as high-ranking officers in the House with some returning for the 4th time.
She said, “As preparations are being made to inaugurate the 10th National Assembly, we call on political parties with elected members in the parliament, to uphold the provisions of the National Gender Policy and be intentionally gender inclusive, mainstreaming and considering gender as a necessary factor when zoning Presiding Offices in the National Assembly.
“We are particularly interested in the House of Representatives election for presiding officers where we have female members as some of the high-ranking officers in the house with some returning for the 4th time.