Group Advocates e-voting, Punishment for Electoral Offenders in Nigeria
POLITICS DIGEST – The Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement (YIAGA) Africa has called for electronic voting system and punishment for electoral offenders in order to make elections credible in Nigeria.
The Coordinator, Centre for Legislative Engagement (YIAGA) Africa, Dr. Ernest Ereke, made the call during a town hall meeting organized by the Oyo State House of Assembly in collaboration with IYIAGA Africa at Nest Hotel, Ibadan, the state capital.
Dr. Ereke said: “It is very important that legislature needs to rise up. Nothing stops us from electronic voting. We are talking about punishment for electoral offenders. We are talking about the cost of election in Nigeria. We are talking about vote buying. All of these issue are things that made the election in Kogi State not to be credible. So, the legislature has the powers, functions and of course it is constitutionally empowered to make amends in order to improve the society. So we believe that the ninth Assembly can do that”, he said.
The theme of the meeting was :”Citizens’ Town Hall Meeting on Development of a Legislative Agenda”.
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On his part, the Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Right Hon. Adebo Ogundoyin said the meeting was the best way to determine what the people of the state needed.
The speaker identified the legislature as a very crucial arm of government which would ensure good governance and stability of democracy.
He pointed out that the recognition of the legislative arm as the first on the list by the constitutional arrangement of 1999 was based on the fact that the legislators are the representatives of the people.
Ogundoyin noted that the development agenda of the legislative agenda would encourage more participation including the youth in the law-making process which he said is the foundation of the town hall meeting.
He lauded YIAGA Africa for providing technical support to improve the state’s legislative activities to achieving good governance, which is in line with the vision of the state governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde.
The majority of the participants in their submissions urged Governor Seyi Makinde to constitute the caretaker committee for the local governments to ensure that the people at the local level are incorporated into his government.
They urged the lawmakers to make policies on security, agriculture, education and economy priorities of their legislative agenda.
They demanded laws that would encourage even development across the state.