Reps To Re-intoduce Dispora Voting Bill

The House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora has assured that a Bill which seeks to allow Nigrians in the diaspora to participate in the country electoral process would be reintroduced on the floor of the House.

The Bill was earlier rejected by members of the National Assembly in March, during voting on the ongoing amendment to the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Tolulope Akande-Shadipe, made this known when the chairman/CEO of Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, appeared before the committee to defend the commission’s 2022 budget implementation and 2023 budget proposal.

Akande-Shadipe said the Bill would eventually pass, because that is the direction the world is going.

“We would be back with the bill. They are Nigerians and they have the right to vote in Nigerian elections. The modalities and the issues that were raised the last time would be resolved and we would come back to it

“We are going to reintroduce the diaspora voting bill which was rejected at the constitution amendment exercise.

“The diaspora voting bill would be approved this time, according to Shadipe, because it is the direction the world is moving in and Nigeria must not fall behind.

“We will be back with the bill, they are Nigerians and they have the right to vote in Nigerian elections.

“The modalities and the issues raised the last time will be resolved and we will come back to it,” she said.

Th chairman further revealed that the committee was also looking at the issue of people of Nigerian descent who are not currently Nigerians but want to return home after DNA tests proved that they have ties to Nigeria.

Meanwhile, chairman of NiDCOM, Dabiri-Erewa, during her presentation urged Nigerians to stop migrating to other countries if they don’t have jobs there.

According to her, 80 per cent of prisoners in Dubai are Nigerians, who went there without jobs and got into trouble.

Mrs Abike Dabiri stressed the need for a stronger multi-sector collaboration to stop the trend.

Members of the National Assembly had voted against the Bill for an Act to Alter the Provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to Provide for Diaspora Voting, and for Related Matters.

Figures released by the National Assembly showed that 29 Senators and 58 members of the House of Representatives voted in support of the bill which sought to allow Nigerians register and vote in their country of residence during elections, while 62 Senators and 240 Representatives voted against the bill.

The bill sought to amend Section 77 and 117 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to allow Nigerians in the Diaspora participate in electoral process, would be passed by the National Assembly when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) threw their weights behind it.