About 5000 Nigerians have signed an online petition calling on the National Assembly to consider electoral reforms and halt its annual vacation until the Electoral Act Amendment Bill is addressed.
Mr Ariyo-Dare Atoye, the Project Lead, Center for Liberty (CFL) said the online petition on chnge.org, initiated by CFL, an NGO, focused on electoral reforms, among other core issues bordering on democratic governance and social change in Nigeria.
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It would be recalled that the 9th Senate had since stayed action on the Bill for an Act to Amend the Electoral Act (No. 6) 2010 and Other Related Matters, 2019.
The bill was sponsored by the Deputy President of the Senate, Sen. Ovie-Omo Agege, which was passed for second reading in March 2020.
Atoye said Nigerians were entreating members of the National Assembly to put personal interest aside by giving the country Electoral Act 2020.
According to the petition, electoral reforms now represent a major citizens’ charter of demand to the National Assembly for the year 2020.
Lawan tasks panel on electoral reforms
Meanwhile, the Senate President Ahmad Lawan has charged the Committee on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to expedite work on reforming Nigeria’s electoral process.
Lawan stated this in his remark after referring the confirmation of the nomination of Dr Chukwuemeka Chukwu for appointment as a Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) to the committee.
He urged the panel to engage relevant stakeholders in the country with a view to meeting the expectations of Nigerians.
“We must ensure that we work so hard and assiduously on the electoral reforms.
“This is one way of ensuring that we collect all the different submissions from different stakeholders.
“Our committee on INEC, together with major stakeholders, should start working on this as quickly as possible to ensure that we are able to meet the expectations of Nigerians regarding electoral reforms,” Lawan said.
He gave the committee four weeks to submit its report on the appointment of Dr Chukwuemeka Chukwu as INEC’s REC.
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