2015: NASS To Endorse Electronic Voting -Ekweremadu

The National Assembly has indicated its readiness to lift the embargo on electronic voting even as the institution harps on the need for caution in the deployment of ICT in the election process to avoid unnecessary tension which may arise from mutual suspicion among the political elite
The Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu gave the indication yesterday while declaring open a three-day international conference on “Promoting Credible Election in Nigeria: Opportunities and Challenges in Information and Communications Technology”, being organised by the UNDP Democratic Governance for Development Project in Abuja.
Ekweremadu, who is also chairman of the Senate Constitution Review Committee on the note that life was in endless evolution and that democracy was not an exception in mankind’s efforts towards finding new, faster, and better ways of getting things done, said the National Assembly was very willing and ready to support INEC’s electoral process all the way.
He, however, emphasised the need for caution in the deployment of ICT in the election process, noting that “the infusion of ICT into any sensitive aspect of our election management system in particular must be very strategic, tested, gradual, and go with adequate mobilization, education, and consensus building.”
Senator Ekweremadu said that the National Assembly was committed to matching this desire for increased ICT role in our election management and electoral process with the requisite appropriation and law reforms.
His words: “In the present amendment to the Electoral Act, we seek to delete Section 52, which bars the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), from using electronic voting. This is to allow the commission to use its discretion to apply electronic voting at any time it deems it appropriate”

Nneka Amaechi-Nnadi, Abuja