N’Assembly will Prioritise Electoral Reforms, Say Lawan, Gbajabiamila

Deji Elumoye

The Senate President, Senator Ahmed Lawan and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, have promised that the Ninth National Assembly will hit the ground running in terms of electoral reforms in preparation for the 2023 general election.

The leaders made the promise separately when the European Union Election Observer team on Nigeria and ECOWAS paid them a visit in Abuja

The observers mission that visited Lawan was led by Ambassador Keitec Karlsen.

They presented a copy of its observations from the 2019 elections.

The senate president said the senate would expedite action in ensuring that necessary actions were taken in amending the act to ensure more credible elections in the future.

He commended the mission for its 30 points recommendations on how to conduct better elections moving forward.

“Your visit today is historic, as it’s the first visit to my office after elections of the presiding officers of the ninth assembly.

“We consider our elections of great importance. We have lessons to learn and we want our elections to be credible and to meet with best practices.

“The National Assembly has always worked hard on the Electoral Act to ensure that we improve on the standard.

“Your recommendations will inspire us to better electoral processes,” he said.

Lawan explained that the inability of the National Assembly to successfully amend the act prior to the 2019 election was due to wrong timing, adding that the ninth assembly would begin the process early enough.

“This time, we will be quick to address all the grey areas and come out with better input.

“We need to see an improvement in our electoral system. So, we solicit your support to further boost knowledge of our members and committees.

“We, in the ninth assembly, will continue to work in a committed and united manner to offer the best to the electorate,” he said.

The president of the senate called on the European Union Mission to collaborate more with the National Assembly in order to build the capacity of lawmakers.

He also noted that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is an institution that has always been supported by the National Assembly.

“They also require more support and resources as the resources available are not enough for the enormous tasks.

“Our desire is that our electoral empire should continue to be independent to continue to perform its statutory functions creditably,” Lawan said.

Earlier, Karlsen congratulated Lawan for his election as the Speaker, assuring that the EU would continue to strengthen its collaboration with Nigeria.

The Deputy Chief Observer, Hannah Robert, disclosed that the observer mission was invited by INEC to monitor the last elections.

She added that, as an independent observer, the mission visited several polling stations in the country during the polls, stressing that the exercise afforded the observers the opportunity see events on self-appraisals.

Robert added that 30 recommendations were brought up for electoral reforms and another seven priority recommendations were comprehensively arrived at.

On his part, Gbajabiamila in a statement by the Speaker’s aide, Mr. Smart Lanrewaju, said. “Nigeria is ready to always follow international best practices. I commend the fact that there has been improvement in Nigerian electoral process but more needs to be done.

“Parliament will hit the ground running in terms of electoral reforms as the process of elections is before, during and after the elections.

“Election is the bedrock of any democracy and there is the desire to get the process right,” he said.

The speaker commended EU for the tremendous job done all over the world, particularly in Nigeria.