SAN FRANCISCO, May 30, (THEWILL) – Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has revealed plans to introduce electronic voting system in the conduct of activities in the lower chamber.
According to a statement by the Special Adviser to the Speaker on Media and Public Affairs, Turaki Hassan, the House would adopt the e-voting system in its operations in compliance with the Legislative Agenda of the 8th Assembly
“Consequently, forms have been distributed to individual members to collate their data ahead of production of e-voting cards to all the 360 MPs,” the statement read.
“The implication of the new system is that records of each member’s punctuality and voting patterns can easily be accessed by his/her constituents and members of the public.”
The Legislative Agenda as adopted by the 8th Assembly last year states: “The 8th House commits to the use of ICT in the daily conduct of legislative activities of the House. E-parliament and e-voting platforms will be made a regular feature of the House.
“E-voting will be used regularly during voting to properly reflect voting records of Members and parliamentary accountability. The House shall collaborate with relevant stakeholders to achieve the goal of an e-parliament.
“Other initiatives that will be introduced include the establishment and equipping of a Parliamentary Information Centre where information and documents of the National Assembly will be made available.
“The introduction of the e-voting and e- parliament will further increase citizen’s access to the legislature and solve the problem of public access to authentic documents of parliament.
“The e-parliament initiative is expected to operate on the platform of modern, up-to-date digital technology, and Internet and intranet access supported by computerized legislative information management system is also be put in.”
Story by David Oputah
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