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Federal Character: Reps Support End To Discrimination Against Married Women

  Members of Nigeria’s House of Representatives on Wednesday threw their weight behind a bill they say will end discrimination against married women. Advertisement Married … Continue reading Federal Character: Reps Support End To Discrimination Against Married Women


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Members of Nigeria’s House of Representatives on Wednesday threw their weight behind a bill they say will end discrimination against married women.

Married women in the country have over the years found themselves against a brick wall when it comes to issues of indigenous identity. They are hardly every accepted as indigenes of their husbands’ state and find themselves locked out of their state of origin because of their marriage.

Lawmakers, however, expect a bill that seeks to amend the Federal Character Commission (Establishment) Bill 2010 to help address the challenge.

The bill also provides for the establishment of the Federal Character Tribunal for the prosecution of violators of the Federal Character Act.

Sponsors of the bill informed the House that the amendment will address some legal issues confronting the Act, including allowing a woman to claim where her husband is from, after which the lawmakers gave it the thumbs up and allowed it to scale the second reading.

Some of the lawmakers who spoke in support of the amendment said the tribunal will appropriately sanction people in positions of authority who violate the Act and display ethnic sentiments during recruitment.

The Representative of Shiroro/Rafi/Munya Federal Constituency of Niger State, Abubakar Chika Adamu, said the amendment should take into consideration men who are married to more than one wife.

Although he ruled out dual indigeneship for women, he said, “For official purposes, a woman should be able to claim where her husband comes from.”

On a lighter note, he added, “I believe that the bill should not address that it is only my first wife that would claim where I come from.

“Other wives also have rights and the bill should be able to look at that aspect that my other wives.”

That way, he expects that there would be no problem when his wives find themselves in different positions of power at the same time.

“When tomorrow, my first wife is the Head of Service of where I come from, the second wife becomes the secretary to the state government and the third wife becomes the chief judge, people should stop complaining,” he said.