Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman, Independent National Electoral
\nCommission (INEC), has urged the National Assembly to use a bipartisan
\napproach in amending the Electoral Act to help improve conduct of
\nelections in the country.<\/p>\n
Yakubu made the call at the inauguration of the Joint Technical
\nCommittee on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill on Friday in Abuja.<\/p>\n
The event was organised by the National Assembly Joint Committee on INEC
\nand Electoral Matters with support from Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre
\n(PLAC) and UK Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO).<\/p>\n
He was represented by Mr Festus Okoye, INEC National Commissioner and
\nChairman, Information and Voter Education Committee.<\/p>\n
Yakubu said that the amendment was timely, saying that more
\nfundamentally, the reforms must be impactful, approached from a
\nbipartisan angle, devoid of divisive issues and concluded at least by
\nthe first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that President of the Senate,
\nAhmad Lawan had in 2020, pledged the commitment of the National Assembly
\nto the passage of the Electoral Act amendment bill by the end of first
\nquarter of 2021.<\/p>\n
The INEC chairman welcomed the renewed efforts and commitment by the
\nleadership of the National Assembly towards amending the electoral legal
\nframework for the conduct of elections.<\/p>\n
Yakubu said that the renewed drive by the legislature was timely and
\nmust be sustained and approached with a sense of history and urgency.<\/p>\n
He said that the efforts must be diffused with clearly defined
\ntimelines, priority, interventions and strategic thinking.<\/p>\n
Yakubu said that the commission was fully committed to the amendment
\nprocess and would continue to offer suggestions and recommendations that
\nwould help improve the regime of elections in the country.<\/p>\n
He further said that amending the electoral legal framework would not
\nautomatically lead to improvement in the management and conduct of
\nelections.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Constitution and the Electoral Act are not self-executory, and both
\noperate through the actions and inactions of the critical stakeholders
\nin the electoral process,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A member of the Technical Committee, Mr Sadiq Mua\u2019azu said that one of
\nthe advantages of the electoral reforms was to bring all amendments
\ntogether in one document.<\/p>\n
Mua\u2019azu said that the major target of the amendment was to ensure that
\nall political parties were gender sensitive as well as eliminate all
\nforms of discrimination in all political parties.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bill mandates all political parties to ensure that women leaders
\nare women or persons of the feminine gender and that all youth leaders
\nare between the ages of 18 to 45 at the date of elections into such
\noffices.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bill also seeks to increase maximum election expenses to be
\nincurred by Presidential or Governorship Candidates, Senatorial or House
\nof Representatives Candidates.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe amount was increased for the Presidential election from N1billion
\nto N5 billion and from N200 million to N1 billion for the governorship
\nand for the Senate and House of Representatives it was increased to N100
\nmillion and N70 million respectively,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Sen. Kabiru Gaya, Chairman, Senate Committee on INEC, said that the bill
\nwhen passed and assented would tremendously change the political sphere
\nof the nation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe amending of the Electoral Act would indeed positively affect the
\nelectoral process and procedures which has posed challenges and raised
\ncontroversies that have put the mantra of free, fair and credible
\nelections to question,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said that the Technical Committee was inaugurated in order to achieve
\nthe set timeline for passing the bill by the end of the first quarter of
\n2021.<\/p>\n
Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar
\nMalami, pledged to work with the technical committee to ensure
\nunhindered presidential assent to the bill.<\/p>\n
Malami was represented by Special Assistant to the President on Justice
\nReform and International Relations, Mrs Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will continue to work more closely with the National Assembly to
\nensure that the bill is eventually passed as scheduled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI recall that immediately after the 2015 elections, the President
\napproved the inauguration of the constitutional and electoral reform
\ncommittees in 2016, we have been working with the National Assembly and
\nwe came up with four bills that have been approved by the Federal
\nExecutive Council and forwarded to the National Assembly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In a goodwill message, Head, Governance and Stability, FCDO, Mr Sam
\nWaldock said that the UK was a proud supporter of Nigeria\u2019s democratic
\nprocess.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the last five years, the UK has invested more than 50 million pounds
\nin Nigeria\u2019s democratic process and it\u2019s the largest democracy in Africa
\nand it is the leading member of Commonwealth.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe commend the National Assembly for its work to reform this
\nlegislation which will go a long way even after the next election.<\/p>\n
\u201cSetting up a technical sub-committee to expedite the work on this bill
\nis a very important contribution to Nigeria\u2019s electoral legal
\nframework,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Also, Executive Director, PLAC, Mr Clement Nwankwo expressed optimism
\nthat the bill would be passed within the shortest possible time.<\/p>\n
\u201cFollowing the experience of the last failed attempt to sign the
\nElectoral Act in 2018, it is quite clear that this commitment is
\nunanimous on all sides to ensure that we do have a new Electoral Act in
\nplace.<\/p>\n
\u201d With the support from the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development
\nOffice, we are able to collaborate with the National Assembly to deliver
\non the commitment that has been made by the assembly,\u201d Nwankwo
\nsaid.(NAN)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has urged the National Assembly to use a bipartisan approach in amending the Electoral Act to help improve conduct of elections…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n