The Lagos State Commissioner for Commerce, Industry, and Cooperatives, Folashade Bada Ambrose, has warned that delays in passing the Reserved Seats Bill for women could undermine efforts to improve female political representation before the 2027 elections. She voiced the concern on Tuesday during the 2026 International Women's Day event in Alausa, Ikeja. Ambrose attributed the urgency to recent changes in the election timetable by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which have shortened the timeframe for implementing reforms. She stressed that if the bill is not enacted before party primaries, it would not influence candidate selection or electoral outcomes. "If they do not influence candidacy, they cannot influence outcomes. And if outcomes remain unchanged, a significant portion of the women population will remain underrepresented for another electoral cycle," she said. Ambrose described the issue as central to fairness, inclusion, and national development. She highlighted Lagos State's ongoing initiatives to boost women's economic participation, including the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund and the N10 billion LASMECO programme, which offers non-collateral loans to cooperative-based MSMEs. The Lagos State Export Readiness Programme (LASERP) has trained 252 SMEs and sponsored 20 businesses to attend a trade fair in Algiers.
Folashade Bada Ambrose's warning exposes a critical disconnect between economic empowerment and political access for women in Nigeria — one that Lagos State's progressive programmes cannot fix alone. While the state supports female entrepreneurs through funding and training, the Reserved Seats Bill remains stalled at the national level, revealing that economic gains do not automatically translate into political power. The fact that INEC's revised timetable is now limiting reform space underscores how institutional timelines can quietly erase equity opportunities.
The deeper issue lies in the structure of political parties, which control candidate nominations and have shown little appetite for mandatory female inclusion. Ambrose's point that the bill must influence primaries to matter cuts to the heart of the problem: without altering gatekeeping mechanisms, women will remain sidelined regardless of state-backed economic advances. Lagos may fund thousands of women-led businesses, but if party structures stay unchanged, their voices won't reach legislative chambers.
Ordinary Nigerian women, especially those in grassroots businesses, stand to lose the most. They benefit from state loans and export training but gain little if they cannot shape policies that affect their livelihoods. Political exclusion means their interests remain unrepresented in budgetary and regulatory decisions.
This is not an isolated delay but part of a broader pattern where gender equity measures are celebrated in speeches but neglected in legislative action.
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