The Senate yesterday read the Independent National Electoral (INEC) Amendment Act Bill for the third time and subsequently passed it.
The bill was passed after the Chairman of the Senate Committee on INEC, Suleiman Nazif, presented the report a review.
The bill was read for the second time on October 10 as the lawmakers put into consideration reasons President Muhammadu Buhari gave for rejecting the bill which had earlier been passed by the parliament.
President Buhari announced the rejection of the bill on September 3 due to “some drafting issues” that were unaddressed by prior revisions.
“Mr President invites the Senate and House of Representatives to address these issues as quickly as possible so that he may grant assent to the Electoral Amendment Bill,” Ita Enang, a presidential aide, said in a statement then.
His refusal to assent the bill made the National Assembly Joint Committee on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to reconvene and deliberate on the bill for the fourth time.
Presenting the report, Mr Nazif explained that the main objectives of the bill which is to provide for the use of card readers and any other technological devices in conducting elections, to provide a timeline for the submission of lists of candidates as captured in Section 31(6) and 85(1) of the bill.
He also said the bill is meant to identify criteria for substitution of candidates, limits of campaign expenses as well as addressing problems related to the omission of names of candidates or logo of political parties.
Prior to the clause-by-clause consideration of the bill, the chairman explained that some observations of the president were considered.
“Clause 4, amends Section 18 of the Principal Act which deals with erroneous cross-references made in the Bill that was sent earlier for assent.
“Clause 10, amends Section 36 (3) of the Principal Act that deals with qualifying language.
“Clause 14, amends Section 49 (4) of the Principal Act that deals with the failure of a card reader. Where a smart card reader deployed for accreditation of Voters fails to function in any polling unit and a fresh card reader is not deployed 3 hours before the close of the election in that unit, then the election shall not hold but be rescheduled and conducted within 24 hours thereafter, provided that where the total possible votes from all the affected card readers in the unit or units does not affect the overall result in the constituency or election concerned, the commission shall notwithstanding the fact that a fresh card reader is not deployed as stipulated, announce the final results and declare a winner.
“Clause 24, amends Section 87 (13) 0f the Principal Act that deals with the issue of a deadline for primary election. The dates of the Primaries shall not be earlier than 150 days and not later than 90 days before the date of the election to the elective offices.”
He further explained that the same section stipulates a specific period within which political party primaries are required to be held since the unintended consequences left INEC with only nine days to collate and compile lists of candidates and political parties for the various elections.
“This is because the earlier Electoral Act Amendment Bill did not properly amend Sections 31, 33 and 85 of the principal Act that stipulate times for submission of lists of candidates, publication 0f lists of candidates, notice of conventions and congresses tor nominating candidates for elections.
“Clause 32, amends Section 140 (4) 0f the Principal Act that deals with the omission of the name of a candidate or logo of a political party.”
The other sections of the main electoral act that were amended are 31, 33, 34, 38, 44, 67,76, 78, 82, 85, 87,91, 99, 112, 120,138, 143, 151, and the Schedule.
During the clause-by-clause consideration of the bill, the Senate resolved to set campaign spending limits for senatorial elections at N250 million and N100 million for House of Representatives.
The bill was, thereafter, read for the third time and passed.
Meanwhile, the President of the Senate, Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki says the National Assembly would continue to mount necessary pressure to get presidential assent on the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB).
Saraki spoke at a dinner as part of activities at the ongoing 24th Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja, last Monday night.
The dinner which ended late in the night, was attended by trade experts, industrialists, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) operators and financial experts among other dignitaries.
According to Saraki, the resolve by the legislature to mount pressure to ensure the bill gets presidential assent has become necessary, given its importance to development of the oil and gas sector in Nigeria.
It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had withheld assent on the PIGB following its passage by the National Assembly.
The President had also communicated its decline of assent to the PIGB 2018, citing constitutional and legal reasons in the bill.
The Senate president said that it was unfortunate that the bill had not been assented to, adding “we took it as a responsibility to drive that bill to a level it has never been in a decade’’.
“That bill, a lot of people when we started said we cannot do it, but we demonstrated we have the political will and the commitment to do it.
“We passed the governance bill and it went to the executive.
“What I expected considering the kind of work that was done was for us both arms to seat down, because the issues that were raised are not issues that are not surmountable.
“Unfortunately, after so many months, the bill has come back with query that can easily be trashed out in a day session.
“Those in the petroleum sector will agree with me that they have never seen the engagement we saw in the governance bill.
“Secondly, we had the fiscal bill and we have taken it to the point that has never been archived, but I believe a lot of the operators will want to ask what will happen to the fiscal bill if the governance bill was not assented to.
“Our intension is to go back to the executive and seat down with them in the interest of Nigeria.
“This is a very good bill as most operators and the technical people in the sector commended it.’’
He said the observation made on the bill was not enough reasons to stop its assent because of the huge positive impact it would make on investments in the sector.
“As you know, there is no serious investment going on in the oil and gas sector because people are not sure of what to expect”, Saraki said.
On cost of governance, Saraki said it was huge but added that there were some wastages that could be reduced.
The Senate president said the fight against corruption must be transparent, and credible, adding that effort should also be made to prevent it.
“For example, the main area where we produce our major revenue is mainly in the oil and gas sector.
“But when you look at corruption cases, I am not sure you will find many of the cases in that sector, the fight is so selective.
“But if it is transparent, you should start from where you are producing your large source of revenue.
“If you can tackle corruption in the sector, there will be less leakage down the line.
“For example, today, we are back to spending close to $3.6billion on petroleum subsidy, so, apart from the National Assembly, which anti-corruption agency is looking at that?
“The point I am making is that there should be a transparent process and approach in fighting corruption.
“If we can make the petroleum sector most efficient which accounts for large revenue, government will be more efficient.”
Meanwhile, amid criticisms and call for slashing of its funds, the Governor of Sokoto State, Hon Aminu Tambuwal has advocated for more funding for the National Assembly to enable it adequately perform its duties.
Tambuwal disclosed this, last Monday, while delivering a lecture at the second convocation and awards ceremony of the National Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) in collaboration with the University of Benin.
The former Speaker of the House of Representatives said that even though it is an unpopular argument, that so long as Nigeria operates a presidential system of government, the funding of the National Assembly remained meagre.
Giving insights on how to boost the institutional capacity of the National Assembly, the Sokoto governor stressed that for the committees of NASS to work effectively, more money must be allocated.
“The constitutional responsibilities of the National Assembly are enormous, especially in the areas of law making and oversight. Adequate financial resources are required for the Assembly to be able to discharge these responsibilities effectively in line with public expectations.