The Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki has disclosed that the gender equity bill which was thrown out by the House on Tuesday will soon be revisited and reintroduced for a redraft.
The Bill which was on Tuesday thrown out of the house was sponsored by the Senate Minority Whip, Biotin Olujimi representing Ekiti South.
The bill seeking to empower and grant women equal political and economic opportunities as men was rejected after the Senators argued that most of the points for which the bill stood for were against the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.
The same reason was given at the seventh Senate when a similar bill was presented and rejected.
The Senate President after a said meeting with the minority whip was quoted by his Special Adviser on Gender, Ms. Fatima Kakuri to have said; “I have it on good authority that Senator Biodun Olujimi who introduced this bill will reintroduce it after re-drafting it to address some of the reservations that were expressed on the floor of the Senate,”
“As I said during the International Womens Day last week, I am of the opinion that there are substantial parts of the bill that are crucial to the development of our nation such as the equal access to education, strengthening of the laws on violence against women,
ending abduction of girls, sustenance and promotion of entrepreneurship opportunities, gender mainstreaming and gender equality, female participation in governance, among others.
“Unfortunately, the bill suffered a slight set back because there were some parts of the Bill that some Senators disagreed with along the lines of religion and tradition. The beauty of democracy is that it gives us the opportunity to consider different opinions and this bill can still be represented and reconsidered on the floor of the Senate.”
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