Nigeria’s 2027 elections will determine more than who occupies political offices for the next four years. They will also reveal who gets the opportunity to participate in shaping the country’s future. Eight years following the enactment of the “Not Too Young to Run” bill, available data highlights a pressing concern: to what extent are youth and women actually represented on the ballot?

Women make up almost half of Nigeria’s population, while young people constitute a significant share of the electorate. Yet their representation among candidates for the Senate remains disproportionately low. Nine out of ten senatorial candidates are men.

Data on the 2027 senatorial candidates shows that only 123 of 1,303 candidates are women, representing just 9.4% of the total. This means that roughly nine out of every ten candidates contesting for the Senate are men.

The numbers have remained poor across recent election cycles. Women accounted for 12.2% of senatorial candidates in 2019, falling to 8.3% in 2023 and rising slightly to 9.4% in 2027. The slight increase from 2023 should not obscure the larger picture: women are still significantly underrepresented in the race for legislative power, and when we look specifically at young women, the situation becomes even more concerning.

Young women’s candidacy for the Senate fell from 2.1% in 2019 to 0.8% in 2023 and just 0.2% in 2027. That is not progress, young people are still struggling to enter the room, and this challenge is not limited to women.

Only 47 candidates aged 35 are among the 1,303 senatorial candidates, representing approximately 3.6% of the total. Even when the age range is expanded to candidates between 35 and 40, the number rises to 249, or about 19.1%. The decline in youth candidacy is particularly striking.

Young candidates represented 13.2% of senatorial candidates in 2019, but this dropped to 3.7% in 2023 and remains at 3.6% in 2027.

Nigeria is a young country, but its political institutions continue to have limited space for young political leaders. Young Nigerians are already leading businesses, technology companies, civil society organisations, professional associations and community initiatives. They are developing solutions to some of the country’s most pressing problems. Yet when it comes to formal political leadership, many are still kept outside the room. Political parties hold the key, voters cannot elect candidates who never make it to the ballot. This is why the responsibility for improving representation cannot rest with voters alone. Political parties have a major role to play.

Parties determine who receives tickets, how much candidates pay to participate, which constituencies candidates contest and, ultimately, who has a realistic chance of winning. If political parties are serious about building a more representative democracy, they need to make their internal processes more accessible to women and young people. This could include reducing the financial barriers to obtaining nomination forms, creating transparent candidate selection processes, investing in leadership development and adopting clear targets for women’s and youth representation.

Most importantly, women and young people should not simply be included to fulfil quotas or create the appearance of diversity. They should be supported to contest competitive seats where they have a genuine opportunity to win; representation matters.

The argument for greater representation is not simply that women and young people should occupy political offices because of their demographics. The stronger argument is that democracy works better when people from different backgrounds have a meaningful opportunity to participate in making decisions that affect them.

The National Assembly makes laws, approves budgets, exercises oversight and influences policies that affect virtually every Nigerian, who sits there matters. When women have limited representation, issues that disproportionately affect women may receive less political attention. When young people are largely absent, perspectives on employment, education, technology, climate change and the future of work may be inadequately represented.

Representation does not also guarantee good governance. A young politician is not automatically a good politician, just as a woman is not automatically a better representative.

Competence, integrity, ideas and public service should remain important criteria. But competence cannot be assessed if people are denied a fair opportunity to compete in the first place. A more representative political system will not happen by accident. It requires deliberate action from political parties, institutions, civil society, voters and citizens themselves.

So as the 2027 election approaches, Nigerians should ask more than “Who are you voting for?” We should also ask: Who was given the opportunity to run? Who is represented on the ballot? Whose voices will be present when decisions about our future are made?

Nigeria cannot build an inclusive democracy while large sections of its population remain underrepresented in political leadership.