Reps begins work on Electoral Act amendment bill

Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja

The House of Representatives has begun work on the amendment of the Electoral Act with the introduction of a bill seeking to alter the existing act.

The bill titled: “Electoral Act (Repeal and Enactment)  Bill  2020  and sponsored by Chairman,  House Committee on Electoral Matters,  Aisha Dukku,  passed first reading at yesterday’s plenary.

Though the details of the bill was still sketchy as the time  of filing this report,  Daily gathered that prior to the presentation,  the two  chambers of the National Assembly through the relevant committees had interfaced with stakeholders,  especiallly the office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice,  to ensure that the parliament and the executive are not working at cross purposes on the proposed legislation.

Efforts by the eight National Assembly to amend the Electoral Act prior to the 2019 general elections was unsuccessful,  following the repeated refusal of President Muhammadu  Buhari to assent to assent to the amendment Bill.

Meanwhile, the House has expressed worries over the pace of work on the second Niger-Bridge and the completion  of Abuja-Kaduna and Lagos-Ibadan  roads projects.

Chairman, House Committee on Works,  Abubakar Kabir, disclosed the displeasure over the three projects considered critical to Federal Government  at an investigative hearing organised by the committee, yesterday.

The committee also queried the Bureau for Public Procurement( BPP)  for the issuance of no-objection certificate to the company  for the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria  Road allegedly “without taking the interest of Nigerians to heart.”

The lawmaker sought justification on why Julius Berger was awarded the contract for the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria Road  despite  not being part of the initial process

Director General of BPP Mamman Ahmadu, equally expressed  dissatisfaction  with the progress of work on the Abuja-Kaduna road project.

“The Lagos-Ibadan project, was conceived as public-private partnership, but no performance from the concesssionier . It was awarded during Jonathan’s time and because of poor performance, it was re-awarded. The Second Niger bridge, likewise started as BPP project, but failed to perform and it was converted to a contract financed by government and started by Julius berger.”