NAN-H-10
Women
By Cecilia Ijuo
Abuja, Aug. 2, 2017 (NAN) The President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, has debunked insinuations that the National Assembly was against laws that would be beneficial to women.
Saraki made this known while featuring on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja, and affirmed that the 8th Senate was in support of laws that would better the lot of women.
He was reacting to concerns by some Nigerians to the assembly’s rejection of the Bill on Affirmative Action and other women-related bills at the recent vote on constitution amendment.
Saraki assured that the bill on affirmative action would be included in the Gender Equality Bill before its passage.
“The National Assembly is not anti-women. I think we achieved something during the constitutional review, but it is a pity that it has not been well reported.
“We are not against affirmation regarding gender issue but maybe, a lot were against it being in the Constitution.
“Even, in most countries, it is not in the Constitution; even the countries we copied, gender affirmation is not in their constitution.
“So, we agreed that we vote against it being in the Constitution, with the commitment that when the gender bill comes, it will go.
“We had that gentleman’s agreement and to me that is a great achievement,’’ he said.
Saraki assured that the bill would be a priority when the national assembly resumed from its recess, saying that the lawmakers would have done their beat if the bill scaled through. (NAN)
CJM/OPI/OPI
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