The House of Representatives on Tuesday to deferred the voting on the amendments of the constitution till Wednesday due to the delay in the installation of a new voting system.
The Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal said the shift was to allow for the new voting system installed over the weekend to function perfectly. According to him, it was important to ensure the integrity and transparency of the process.
It was a full house on Tuesday as members filled the chamber in preparation for the voting.
However, some Non- governmental Organizations and other individuals that came to witness the House of Representatives vote on the amendment of the constitution were also disappointed as the voting was shifted for technical reasons.
The report of the Emeka Ihedioha headed ad hoc committee on the review of the Constitution had been considered on a clause-by-clause basis last week and Mr Tambuwal had assured that voting on the various aspect to be amended would be conducted this week.
For about three hours, members of the House Representatives were given an induction course by experts from the Nigerian Communication Satellite on the use of the electronic voting system behind closed doors.
The time taken to educate the lawmakers on the new system was to prevent the lawmakers from voting in error. The management of the National Assembly was mandated to provide a new voting system for the House but months after awarding the contract to a South African company, the system was not installed.
But the chairman of the House Committee on ICT came to the rescue of the Leadership by contacting the Director General of the NIGCOMSAT on Thursday last week to help put a new system in place.
Mr Tambuwal in a short speech said before the adjournment of sitting sought the understanding of every Nigerian on the postponement.
“We have decided to allow the system to work perfectly. What is worth doing is worth doing well. We want to ensure that the process is done in a very transparent manner,” he said.
The Director General of NIGCOMSAT, Ahmed Rufai while briefing the House on the new system, apologized for the inconveniences the shift in voting date may cause members.
According to him, he was contacted to help put a new system in place only on Thursday last week by the leadership of the House. He said after looking at the alternatives, which was to either repair the old one installed or deploy a new software, it was decided that a new system be put in place
Mr Rufai said because there were 360 tablets of ipads, it was not possible to finish the job over the over the weekend.
“The application has been tested and it’s possible for members to vote from their iPads. We thought its necessary to test for 24 hours, and that is why we are sleeping here tonight in other to ensure that everything is perfect,” he said.