The recently rejected Gender Equality Bill will be reintroduced to the Senate, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has hinted.
It would be recalled that on Tuesday, the bill did not scale through the second reading and was thrown out by members of the red chamber. This did not go down well with many Nigerians, who felt such a bill should have seen the light of the day.
But Saraki hinted on Wednesday that the bill will be re-presented to the Senate after being redrafted.
He received sponsor of the bill, Senator Biodun Olujimi, who is the Senate Minority Whip, in his office.
The Gender Equality Bill, among others, seeks to empower women politically and economically, as well as grant them equal opportunities with men in diverse human endeavours.
In a statement by Saraki’s Special Adviser on Gender, Ms. Fatima Kakuri, which was posted on Facebook, the Senate President said “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 Women’s 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,” he was quoted to have said in the statement.
Some of the faults spotted in the bill were its conflict with the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, as well as with the Christian and Islam faiths, which put man as the head of a woman.
