From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The House of Representatives, on Wednesday passed for second reading, a bill seeking to create a total of 147 special legislative seats for women in the National and state houses of assembly.
The bill is sponsored by the deputy chief whip, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, and 85 others is proposing  36, 37 and  special seats in the  state houses of assembly, Senate and Green chamber, respectively,  exclusively  for women.
According to the bill, which is seeking the alteration of Sections 48, 49, 71, 77 and 91 of the 1999 Constitution ( as amended)  an additional senate seat  and two House of Representatives seats exclusively for women, respectively,  in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The proposed legislation  is also seeking the creation of one addition seat for women in the 36  state houses of assembly across the country.
Onyejeocha, in her lead debate, said the bill is necessary to boost women participation in politics.
According to her, ” women has only 4.4% percent representation in the 9th National Assembly.
“You may wish to note that Nigeria has been identified as the worst performer in women representation in parliaments, in the West African region and one of the lowest in the whole of Africa.
” This is evidenced in the most recent Inter-parliamentary Union (IPU) ranking of women in parliaments where Nigeria ranks 179 out of 187 Countries Worldwide. Eritrea is the only African Country ranked lower than Nigeria and this is because there have not been national elections since its independence in 1993.”