Women in Borno State have called for the reservation of political seats for women at state and federal levels to enhance female participation in governance.

The demand was made on Thursday during a consultative meeting of women advocacy groups in Maiduguri, ahead of the North-East zonal public hearing on the review of the 1999 Constitution.

Chairperson of the Women Political Participation Working Group, Aisha Abubakar, said a bill proposing dedicated seats for women has been prepared and will be presented at the hearing.

“The bill seeks to create exclusive seats for women, enabling them to contest in a more level political environment,” she said. “Competing with men is often difficult due to political, social, and economic challenges.”

She noted that with Borno having 27 local government areas and 28 members in the State House of Assembly, additional seats could be added specifically for women. The same approach, she said, could be applied at the federal level by creating an extra senatorial seat in the state for female candidates.

Umar Dan’Assabe, Senior Programme Manager for Elections at Kimpact Development Initiative, described the bill as timely and essential for inclusive governance.

“Women make up 47.5 percent of Nigeria’s voting population but are grossly underrepresented,” he said. “There are only four female senators out of 109, that’s unacceptable.”

He explained that the bill proposes one reserved seat each for women in the Senate and House of Representatives, and three in the State House of Assembly for Borno.

Falmata Lawan, Director of Women Affairs and Gender at the Borno State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, commended the initiative and reaffirmed the state government’s support for gender inclusivity.

The Ogun State Executive Council, on Wednesday, approved the reconstruction of more roads across the state, as Governor Dapo Abiodun reiterated his commitment to consistent infrastructural development across the State.

This was made known during the weekly meeting of the council.

The newly approved roads include:The 5.4 km Ogbeere – Orita Mobi Junction Road at Ijebu East Local Government, 3.2km Erinlu – Imosan Road in
Odogbolu Local Government and 2.0km Imodi – Imosan Road also in Odogbolu Local Government.

Also, the government gave approval for the procurement of ultra-modern security gadgets to strengthen the state’s security architecture and safeguard infrastructure across the state.

Meanwhile , Governor Abiodun has commended the degree of job done at the Onijaganjagan Independent Power plant, promising the people of Abeokuta and it’s environs regular power supply soonest.

It will be recalled that the Governor recently approved the reconstruction of eleven new roads across the state.

The roads are: 9.2km Akute Bridge to Agbado (Lateef Jakande) Train Terminal/Pass/Agbado Bridge, 5.5km Iperu Junction to Ilishan Roundabout (Gateway International Airport Road),4km Imasayi-Igan Okoto-Ayetoro Road, Phase 2B and 3km Imasayi (end of Phase 1) to Igan Okoto, Phase 2A.

Others are the 3.8km Gao Junction to Ibiade Road – 3.8 km, 2.75km Abeokuta Obalende-Ijebu Ode Road , 1.1km Osinubi New Road (Araromi Street), Ijebu Ode, 0.85km Tam Balogun, Ijebu Ode;2.93km Federal College Road, Odogbolu; 2.8km General Hospital – Aferiku, Ipokia, and 1.7km Oke Erinja to Erinja to Ilobi Road, Phase 2.

Former Kogi West Senator Dino Melaye has touted the competence of the Interim National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, David Mark, to lead the coalition to a successful end.

He made the remarks in Abuja while addressing members of the coalition that recently adopted the ADC as their official political platform.

Citing Mark’s military background and experience as President of the Senate, Melaye asserted that he possessed the qualities necessary to lead the party to victory in the 2027 elections.

According to Melaye: “He was the youngest officer who was a member of the military ruling council. I can’t understand why as a Captain, Major, and Colonel he was being consulted, it’s not for anything but for his intellectual mobility and political sagacity.

“This is the man who was part of a coup but you will not see his hand, you will only see the result. When he was the President of the senate, he will not fight or argue but will get everything that he wants.

“He has been endowed from heaven and he is fearless, he is the only one that can confront these criminals in power, CIPs. By the grace of God, David as your name is, the battle to salvage this country from economic canker-worms and political scavengers is that of no retreat no surrender.

“We are going to match where we need to match, we are going to protest where we need to protest, we are going to resist where we need to resist.

“Let APC and the government know that the time to act is now, so the only thing is that we eschew fear because we have no other country to call our own.

“Let us begin to ring the bell of justice from local government to local government, from ward to ward, from polling unit to polling unit, from state to state.”