Senate constitutes conference committee on 2021 Electoral Act Amendment

The Senate has constituted a Conference Committee for the 2021 Electoral Act Amendment Bill.

The committee will meet with that of House of Representatives to harmonise the 2021 Electoral Act Amendment Bill passed by both chambers of the National Assembly

Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, who announced members of the committee at the plenary on Wednesday, said that it would be led by Senate Leader, Sen. Abdullahi Yahaya (APC- Kebbi).

He gave the names of other members of the committee as, Sen. Kabiru Gaya (APC-Kano), representing North- West, Sen. Uche Ekwunife (PDP-Anambra), representing South-East, Sen. Danjuma Goje (APC-Gombe), representing North-East.

The rest include Sen. Mathew Urhoghide (PDP-Edo), South-South: Sen. Surajudeen Basiru (APC-Osun), South-West, and Sen. Sani Musa (APC-Niger), North -Central.

The Senate had on July 15, passed the Electoral Act Amendment Bill after it considered and adopted the recommendations of the report of the Joint Committee on INEC.

The Senate had amended clause 52 (3) of the bill, empowering the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) to determine the suitability of network for electronic voting procedures, with approval of the National Assembly.

The clause had provided for INEC to determine electronic voting process where practicable but was amended to empower NCC to determine the suitability of the network to conduct the processes, subject to the approval of the National Assembly.