Female federal lawmakers on Wednesday urged the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to sponsor an executive bill that would guarantee more women participation in politics to the National Assembly.

They made the appeal in Abuja at a workshop organised by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies, in collaboration with the United Nations Women, for female legislators in Nigeria.

The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, had on the occasion asked the female lawmakers to take their destinies in their hands.

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Lawan, who was represented by the Deputy Whip, Senator Sabi Abdullahi, noted that women exist in an environment dominated by men, hence the need to make the 30 per cent affirmative action in favour of women, a constitutional issue.

Gbajabiamila also said, “I encourage efforts to support women who are already in government so that they can be more effective public servants.”

The Country representative of the UN Women, Ms. Comfort Lamptey, urged all the women in the National Assembly to ensure the inclusion of women affirmative action in the nation’s constitution.

One of them, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, said, “What we need is an executive bill because efforts made in the past to achieve the women affirmative action through constitution review in the past were frustrated because of our few number in the Parliament.”