The National Assembly has assured that it would amend Nigeria’s electoral legal framework way before the 2023 General Elections.
Specifically, it noted that it would not repeat the mistakes of the Eighth National Assembly where the legal framework for the last general election was amended on the eve of the election.
Chairman of the National Assembly and President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, stated this on Tuesday when he hosted a delegation of the European Union Election Observer Mission to Nigeria which presented its final report on the 2019 General Elections to the National Assembly.
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari had declined assent to the four versions of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill passed by the Eighth National Assembly, citing constitutional breaches, drafting errors, timing to the 2019 general election among others.
While applauding the European Union Mission for the recommendations provided on the last elections, Lawan assured that the Ninth National Assembly will prioritize credible and acceptable electoral processes in line with global best practices.
According to him, Nigerian government considered electioneering process of great importance, adding that stakeholders in elections processes have lessons to learn from every election.
“This time, we will be quick to address all the grey areas (surrounding the Electoral Act Bill) and come out with better inputs.
“The National Assembly has always work hard on Electoral Act to ensure that we improve on the standard, your recommendations will fire us to a more better electoral processes,” Lawan said.
The President of the Senate seized the opportunity of the visit to solicit more collaboration with the European Union Mission, urging the Union to help in building capacity of members of Nigerian parliament.
His words: “We need to see an improvement in our electoral system, we solicit your support to further boost knowledge of our members and Committees relevant to this course.
“We in the 9th Assembly will continue to work in a committed and united manner to offer the best to the electorate.
“INEC is one institution that has always been supported by the National Assembly. They also require more support and resources, the resources available are not enough for the enormous tasks. Our desire is that our electoral empire continue to be independent and improve to perform the statutory functions creditably well”.
Earlier, the leader of the EU Elections Observers Mission in Nigeria, Ambassador Keitec Karleen congratulated the President of the Senate for his election as the 9th Chairman of the National Assembly, assuring that the EU will continue to strengthen the collaboration with Nigeria.
Karlsen said Nigeria is an important partner of the European Union, adding that as an old friend and close ally in terms of economy, job creation, migration and other key areas, EU will continue to work shoulder by shoulder with Nigeria.
He said INEC invited them as monitoring body in the last elections, saying as an independent observers, EU visited hundreds of polling stations in the country during the polls, affirming that the exercise afforded the Observers to see events on self appraisals.
The EU Mission leader added that 30 recommendations were brought up for electoral reforms, of which seven are priority recommendations.
Karlsen added that the reports were to correct anomalies in elections so that such inadequacies would not be repeated in the future.
He called on National Assembly to engage in an inclusive debate and dialogues in order to arrive at a more promising electoral system.
End.
