3. CONSTITUTIONAL MARGINALIZATION OF WOMEN IN NIGERIA.

It has been documented that constitution making in Nigeria has persistently excluded female legitimacy (Ezeilo 2000). This exclusion dates back to the colonial times when women were not allowed to vote. The Clifford constitution of 1922 restricted the electorate to adult males in Calabar and Lagos who have been resident in the city for at least one year and had a gross annual income of N100.00. The Richard constitution of 1946 only reduced the property qualification to N50.00. The Macpherson constitution removed property qualification but still restricted the electorate to only adult males who pay their taxes. By the Lyttleton constitution of 1954, franchise was universal in the East and West but limited to adult males in the North. In fact, it was not until 1979 before the right to vote was extended to all Nigerian women.

The 1999 constitution was promulgated into law by the Armed Forces Ruling Council of General Abdusalami Abubakar regime. The AFRC was made up of 26 military officers, all males. The language of the constitution is in masculine gender. The constitution not only continues the marginalization of women but also actively discriminates against women particularly on citizenship.

The 1999 constitution became operative on 29th May 1999. Despite the fact that women make up at least 49.6 percent of the nations total population (1991 census), less than 2 percent of top positions are occupied by women. There are only 3 female senators in a house of 109 members and only 9 women chairperson of local government area out of 774.

For development to take place, it is crucial that as many people as possible should participate in the development process. Affirmative action is therefore needed in Nigeria to increase the contribution of women to national development. Meanwhile, the idea that affirmative action for women is necessary is already gaining ground in Nigeria. There is a senate resolution that at least 30 percent of either gender should constitute all public appointments in Nigeria. The National policy on women has endorsed affirmative action. According to the policy, “affirmative action of proportionate ratio or 30 percent representation will be employed to increase the total representative seats in each of the legislative houses, executive arm, party hierarchy and structure shall be reserved for women for a trial period up to the years 2010” (National Policy on Women P.37).

Despite the provision for affirmative action in these documents, it is our considered opinion that appointments will continue to be made without respect to these provisions unless affirmative action is entrenched in the constitution.