The Bill for an Act to Amend the Independent National Electoral Commission Act, 2010 (SB 699) has been read for the second time and referred to the Committee on INEC for further legislative action.
Leading the debate at the plenary session of Wednesday, 10 October 2018, the sponsor of the Bill, Sen.Suleiman Nazif (APC: Bauchi) stated the highlights of the Bill to include:
- An Amendment of Section 49(3) of the Principal Act dealing with the failure of Smart Card Readers deployed for accreditation of voters;
- An Amendment of Section 87(12) of the Principal Act dealing with the conduct of primaries for political parties;
- An Amendment inserting Section 87(14) of the Principal Act dealing with the date for the conduct of political party primaries;
- An Amendment of Sections 91(1),(9) and (10) of the Principal Act dealing with the limitation on election expenses; and
- An Amendment of Section 140(5) of the Principal Act dealing with Ballot Papers.
Although Sen. Nazif noted that the bill, if passed, would improve Nigeria’s electoral processes, some lawmakers were of the view that a certain number of the amendments highlighted were ambiguous and required extensive deliberations to clarify the purpose of the amendment and ensure the Bill’s objectives are attained.
The Committee was also mandated to liaise with the House of Representatives on the issues raised in the Bill and report back to the Senate in plenary on Tuesday, 16 October 2018.
