Senator Ipalibo Banigo, who represents Rivers West Senatorial District, has asserted that female lawmakers in the Senate do not perceive themselves as different from their male counterparts, despite the limited number of women in the chamber.
Speaking during an interview on Inside Parliament, a programme aired on AIT, Banigo said women in the upper legislative chamber are treated with the same level of respect and responsibility as their male colleagues.
“In the Senate, we are all men. We are all equal. We are all equal people,” Banigo said. “Even though we are just very few women, we actually don’t see ourselves as being different from anybody else there.”
However, the former Deputy Governor of Rivers State expressed concern over the low level of female representation in Nigeria’s political landscape, describing it as “extremely low” and unacceptable for a country where women constitute nearly half of the population.
“It goes without saying,” she said. “We don’t need any gainsaying to say that Nigeria should have much less than 10% representation for a country where women are about half of the population. And we do have very capable women who can do the job.”
Banigo highlighted her own contributions to promoting inclusion during her tenure as the first elected female deputy governor in Rivers State. According to her, she used the position to push for gender-sensitive policies at the local level.
“In my state, I was the first ever elected female to be deputy governor for two terms, eight years,” she recalled. “I saw it as an opportunity to support the cause of women in vying for political positions.”
She noted that Rivers State became the first in Nigeria to implement policies mandating the election of women as vice chairpersons in all 23 local government areas. The state also introduced a quota system to encourage the inclusion of women as councillors based on the number of wards.
“These policies helped lay a foundation, and after that, other states began to follow suit,” she said.
Addressing the broader systemic challenges facing women in politics, Banigo pointed to the deeply rooted patriarchal structures within political parties and the wider society.
“There are a lot of patriarchal party systems. Out of about 19 registered political parties, how many of them have women as party chairpersons?” she asked. “There’s this system that insists it always has to be a man leading the party, and that sidelines women from major decisions.”
She also cited the high cost of running campaigns, lack of access to funding, intimidation, and societal fear as significant barriers discouraging capable women from contesting for public office.
“There are a lot of capable women who would like to come on board, but sometimes they get caught up with these challenges,” she added.
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