SAN FRANCISCO, September 17, (THEWILL) – Ahead of the 2015 general elections, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has said the House would amend the Electoral Act to prevent people from taking advantage of the flaws in it to rig elections.
Tambuwal, who stated this in his address to welcome members back from their annual recess, also advised the lawmakers not to be distracted by interferences arising from the fight towards the 2015 general elections.
According to him, “We also hope to amend the Electoral Act again to see how we can ensure that no one takes undue advantage of the existing loopholes to rig elections. The fact is that until we can ensure that each vote counts in this country, the people will always be taken for granted by their leaders. We therefore want to produce a solid Electoral Act, comparable to any in the world and able to stand the text of time.”
The Speaker described the implementation of the 2013 Appropriation Bill as below expectation and subsequently directed all standing committees to proceed on a one-week oversight of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
In a speech titled “we must remain focused”, Tambuwal said: “Budget implementation still remains a sore point of governance. The level of implementation of the 2013 capital appropriation is way below expectation given the early submission by the Executive and equally early passage by the Legislature.
“So far by the information and statistics at our disposal, there would appear to be no justification for this state of affairs. However, in order to be comprehensively guided, all the Committees of the House will proceed on one week of oversight to Ministries, Department and Agencies at the end of which they shall submit their reports to the Committees on Legislative Budget and Research and that of Legislative Compliance. The two Committees will collate same and submit a joint report to plenary for consideration.
This report will guide the House in the consideration of the 2014 budget proposals.”
Meanwhile, the House also received the 2014-2016 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) from President Goodluck Jonathan. Tambuwal read the letter conveying the financial document on the floor of the House.
By Saint Mugaga,Abuja
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