Members of the House of Representatives will henceforth be casting critical votes and other legislative debates via electronic voting, the Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has announced.
Mr. Dogara said e-voting system was in compliance with the 8th Assembly’s legislative agenda.
The legislative agenda of the 8th Assembly commits to the use of ICT (Information and communications technology) in the daily conduct of legislative activities of the House with e-parliament and e-voting platforms made a regular feature of the House.
It further states that “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”.
In furtherance of this legislative agenda, a statement posted on the Speaker’s personal website said members of the Green Chamber have been given forms to collate their data needed for the production of e-voting cards for all the 360 lawmakers.
Based on this new system, Mr. Dogara said records of each member’s punctuality, voting records and patterns would become easily available to their constituents and the general public.
“The electronic-parliament will operate on a modern, cutting edge digital technology”, Mr. Dogara added.
