Former Chairman of the Impartial Nationwide Electoral Fee (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, has known as on the Federal Authorities to make the nation’s legislature a part-time establishment.
Talking in the course of the June 12 version of The Platform held in Lagos, Jega stated Nigeria’s Nationwide Meeting and state legislatures needs to be shriveled and function on a part-time foundation with decrease remuneration.
“As a part of the method of reforming and strengthening the legislature for effectivity and effectiveness, a robust rational case will be made for each decreasing the scale of the federal and state legislatures, in addition to making their work part-time with decreased emoluments,” he stated.
He criticised the legislature’s failure to keep up independence, citing government interference, funds padding, extreme allowances, and “insensitive expenditure.”
Jega additionally known as for a overview of the 2022 Electoral Act, together with a provision to mandate the digital transmission of election outcomes.
“There’s a want for elevated use of expertise in elections to boost transparency and accountability,” he stated. “For instance, the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 needs to be improved to make the digital transmission of outcomes necessary.”
He stated the general public’s mistrust within the electoral course of stems partially from how election expertise is launched and deployed.
“There’s a want to make sure clear testing of electoral applied sciences, as a result of a lot of the general public mistrust pertains to the haphazard method by which these applied sciences have been launched, with out public participation of their testing earlier than deployment,” he stated.
Jega additionally stated Part 64 of the Electoral Act needs to be revised to make clear how bodily and digital outcomes are in contrast.
“There’s a must take away ambiguities within the provisions of the 2022 Electoral Act concerning the transmission of election outcomes. For instance, Part 64 needs to be clarified with respect to the levels concerned in evaluating bodily and digital outcomes,” he stated.
He additionally known as for adjustments in how INEC management is appointed, referencing the late Justice Mohammed Uwais-led Electoral Reform Committee, which advisable insulating the fee from government management.
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