The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Policy and Legislative Advocacy Centre (PLAC) have asked President Muhammadu Buhari to assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill recently passed by the two federal legislative chambers.
Executive Director of PLAC, Mr. Clement Nwankwo urged the president to sign the new Electoral Act without much delay so as to enable the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to plan well in advance for next General Election in 2023.
Nwankwo who spoke at the civil society organisation’s strategy session on constitution review process organised by PLAC with the support of the European Union in Abuja, yesterday, said there was enough time lag before the 2023 General Election if the president signs the bill now unlike in 2019, when his excuse was that it was too close the election.
Also, in a statement signed by the NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, the congress said majority of Nigerians had described the 2021 amendments of the Electoral Act as one of the most progressive enactments that Nigeria has had in a long time.
According to NLC the demand for the signing of the amended Electoral bill into law became necessary since its provisions would help strengthen democracy in the country.
“The leadership of the Congress commends the House of Representatives and the Senate particularly the leadership of the National Assembly who stood rock solid behind the proposal for direct primaries for all political parties and rallied their colleagues in the House and the Senate to pass the bill into law. This is the proof of committed leadership and true statesmanship.
“Majority of Nigerians have described the 2021 amendments of the Electoral Act as one of the most progressive enactments that Nigeria has had in a long time,” he said.
Wabba listed some of the major innovations in the bill to include the adoption of direct primaries for internal political parties’ contestations, accommodation of the use of technology in the conduct of general elections in Nigeria and the expansion of the powers of the INEC to develop guidelines as it deems fit to guide the deployment of technology during elections in Nigeria.
Wabba, however, cautioned that a lot more needed to be done in order to fully sanitise Nigeria’s challenged electioneering system especially building on the 2007-2011 electoral reforms which the NLC actively participated in.
He said the electoral process must find ways of tackling the menace of, “godfatherism, ‘godmotherism’ and money politics which were the major concerns that necessitated the new law on direct primaries for all political parties.”
“We recommend that the National Assembly should expeditiously consider developing a bill for the establishment of Electoral Offences Commission to expedite the prosecution of politicians and their agents who indulge in vote for cash, election rigging and violence,” he said.
On the use of technology in our electoral law, NLC urged all stakeholders especially INEC to continue to constructively engage with the Nigerian people to ensure that the lessons from recent and remote deployment of technology during elections are not lost.
Meanwhile, stakeholders who met in Abuja over proposal for constitutional review expressed support for the bill seeking to address the poor women representation in governance in Nigeria.
The Equal Opportunity Bill currently before the National Assembly Committee on constitution review, provides for the setting aside of additional one Senate seat per state and two new House of Representatives seats for the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Lead consultant to the House Representatives Committee on constitution review, Prof. Dakas Dakas said if granted and approved as law, women would be expected to vie exclusively for 37 Senate seats and 73 House Representatives seats across the country during the General Election.
On her part, the Guest Speaker and the Dean of Law Faculty of the University of Nigeria, Enugu campus, Prof. Joy Ezeilo said there was need to urgently address the deplorable state of women participation in the governance of the country.
According to her, Nigeria currently rates far below other African countries in the number of elected women legislators.
She said: “The Global Gender Gap for 2020 published by the World Economic Forum rated Nigeria 146 out of about 153 countries it evaluated concerning women political empowerment focusing on women representation in governance,” she said.
