A proposed law seeking to amend the Electoral Act of 2022 to mandate voting for all eligible Nigerian citizens has passed its second reading in the House of Representatives.
The bill was jointly sponsored by the Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, and Representative Daniel Ago.
Leading the debate on Thursday, Ago stated that the bill’s objective is to boost citizen involvement in the electoral process.
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He argued that making voting compulsory, if the bill becomes law, would tackle the issue of voter apathy during elections.
Despite the bill’s successful second reading, Mark Esset, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party representing Akwa Ibom State, cautioned that simply enacting a law to compel voting is insufficient to improve the electoral system.
Esset argued, “Let us not put something on nothing. If citizens have lost confidence in the electoral system, there is a lot of work to be done. Many Nigerians do not vote during elections because they believe that their votes will not count. If we must make a law to make voting compulsory, we must also make another one to make their votes count.”
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