Lawmakers To Vote Electronically On Constitution Amendment

Members of the House of Representatives will vote electronically during the consideration of the report on the constitution amendment which could be laid in the next few weeks.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila disclosed at plenary on Wednesday when voting on some bills was done electronically, more than one year after the Chamber was digitised.

Gbajabiamila told his colleagues to inform the Clerk on time if their computers are not working so that they can be fixed immediately ahead of the constitution amendment legislative fireworks.

“The constitution amendment voting is coming up in a week or two, and we will need the required numbers. It is the only way we can vote on constitutional amendment,” he said.

Raising a point of order, Deputy Minority Leader, Toby Okechukwu advised that given the technological method of voting, it brings further impetus on the need for members to sit on their seat when they come into the chambers for plenary.

He said: “These votes are not just mere votes, they are matters of record. It will not be imagined or practiced that a member is sitting on another person’s sit and votes. It will alter our records.”

Corroborating Okechukwu’s observation, Gbajabiamila said: “this is no longer a fledging democracy, we are now in advanced democracy. And one of the essentials ingredients of that is to be able to determine for the people back home that we represent, on whether we are voting in their interest or not.

“So electronic voting is not just about the number but about records, the pattern of voting. In more advanced democracy it can be used against you by your opponent that this was were you voted against the position of your constituents. So it’s important therefore that we sit at our respective seats.”

The House of Representatives Chamber was digitised in September 2020 but after initial unsuccessful trials, the device was not used till now.

The Speaker had at the inspection of e-chamber said the innovation would help in quality legislation and enable Nigerians hold their representatives accountable when it comes to voting.

Gbajabiamila had said the devices have the constitution uploaded, code of conduct, legislative agenda, the order paper, motions and other documents for the benefit of all members to follow discussions.

“It has the capacity for members to research issues on the floor, there’s a search engine that is dedicated for that purpose, you can quickly research whatever information or reference that you’re trying to do research about.

“This is also connected to registration processes, so we have e-registration or e-attendance. You can only use your thumb for your attendance to be captured, now nobody signs in for anybody just Incase. Your thumb ID is only specific for you.

“Also when you have foreign guests who do not understand our lingua Franca the system can translate automatically to the foreign guest to whatever language he or she speaks so he or she can follow discussions on the floor”, he stated.

However, members have not being using the digitised chamber gadgets more than a year after it was commissioned, making the purpose of the innovation almost defeated.