Senate To Amend Police Law Requiring Female Officers To Ask For Permission To Get Married

A bill seeking to expunge sections of the police act that are
discriminatory to female officers has passed second reading at the
senate.

The bill passed after Ezenwa Oyewuchi, senator representing Imo
east and its sponsor, move a motion and led a debate on it.

Regulations 122,123,124 and 127 which the bill is seeking to
expunge restrict female officers to desk duties, prevent them from
drilling under arms, make them apply before they get married and
discipline those of them who get pregnant.

While leading the debate on Thursday, Oyewuchi said a review of
the law showed these regulations reinforce gender
discrimination.

“This bill seeks to amend the police act (Cap P19), laws of the
federation of Nigeria, 2004 by expunging the gender-discriminatory
provisions of regulations 122,123,124 and 127,” the legislator
said.

“Essentially, this bill seeks to expunge the provisions of
regulations 122, 123, 124, and 127 from the principal act

“The examination of gender issues covers various spheres of
policy and practice ranging from language, recruitment, training
and posting; to marriage, pregnancy and child bearing.

“Many of the police regulations, particularly regulations 122,
123,124 and 127 are overly discriminatory to female police
officers.

“Since a male police officer is not subjected to the same
inhibitions, the current regulations are inconsistent with section
42 of the constitution and article 2 of the African Charter on
Human and Peoples’ Rights which have prohibited discrimination on
the basis of sex.”

The senator said there is a need to expunge the regulations
because they are not “justifiable in a democratic state like
Nigeria which has domesticated the African Charter on Human and
Peoples Rights”.

Contributing to the debate, Smart Adeyemi, senator representing
Kogi west, said women must not be seen as second class
citizens.

“I find it difficult to comprehend that we have these provisions
in the police act. I am sure they must be carry over of colonial
masters provisions of the police,” he said.

On her part, Stella Oduah, senator representing Anambra north,
said women could be relied upon to carry out duties
efficiently.

“The fact that this bill is not coming from the police, I am
very shocked,” Oduah said.

After it was passed, Senate President Ahmad Lawan referred the
bill to the police affairs committee asking it to report back in
four weeks.