Nigerian Senate working to improve electoral process - Saraki
- One of the areas the 8th Nigerian Senate has focused on is Nigeria's electoral laws
- The president of the Senate, Saraki, played host to a United Nations (UN) Electoral Needs Assessment Mission Team in Abuja
- The group said its mission to the Senate was to seek the views of the lawmakers concerning the nation's electoral system
- Saraki reiterated the red chamber's commitment to the process, adding that electoral system is key in the stability of democracy
Senate president, Bukola Saraki, has said the Nigerian Senate is working to improve the nation's electoral process by building on the gains of the 2015 general elections.
Saraki made the remarks when he played host to a United Nations (UN) Electoral Needs Assessment Mission Team in Abuja on Tuesday, January 23.
He welcomed the team, led by a senior political/electoral affairs officer of the UN, Serge Kubwimana to Nigeria and appreciated the body on behalf of the Senate for the interest and proactive steps they have taken to find out areas the UN can assist to improve the 2019 general elections.
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His words: “As you will know, the electoral system is key in the stability of democracy and for us to get the electoral process right.
“I think as a country, we have made a lot of achievements in this area particularly in reference to our last election and it is our hope and intention to grow stronger from that and improve on our processes.
“In line with this, in the 8th Senate, one of our priority bills, once we started work was to review the existing Electoral Act to see areas, where, based on our experience during the 2015 elections, we can improve on.
“We came up with a number of amendments which we passed in May last year and I think we are just waiting for the House of Representatives to pass their version and hopefully we will be able to harmonize and then have a bill for the president to assent."
Earlier, leader of the delegation, Serge Kubwimana, said the group's objective was to meet with the stakeholders in the nation's electoral process and see areas where the UN can be of support to Nigeria's electoral system, “again based on previous partnerships over the last three electoral cycles.”
He said the mission to the Senate was meant to seek the views of the lawmakers concerning the nation's electoral system and to report back to the Secretary General of the UN, so as to guide the world body in its future partnership with key institutions in the electoral process like the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and others.
Meanwhile, INEC has said it will partner with the United Nations to ensure effective operations during the 2019 general election.
The electoral body said the partnership will be focused on building capacity of its staff ahead of the election scheduled to hold in February 2019.
Speaking during a recent meeting with the UN team led by Kubwimana in Abuja, the commission's chairman Mahmood Yakubu said INEC needs intervention in six critical areas.
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Source: Legit.ng
