The House of Representatives has passed for second reading a bill to amend the Electoral Act 2022 to make voting compulsory for Nigerians of voting age.
The proposed legislation was sponsored by The Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, and Daniel Ago are the sponsors of the bill.
Leading the debate during plenary on Thursday, Ago said the bill aimed to encourage citizens’ participation in the electoral process, adding that voter apathy during elections would be addressed if the bill scales legislative scrutiny.
Although the bill passed second reading, Mark Esset (Akwa Ibom, PDP), said enacting a law to make voting compulsory is not enough to sanitise the electoral system.
“Let us not put something on nothing. If citizens have lost confidence in the electoral system, there is a lot of work to be done.
“Many Nigerians do not vote during elections because they believe that their votes will not count. If we must make a law to make voting compulsory, we must also make another one to make their votes count,” he said.
Details later…
