Reps Votes Against E-Transmission Of Results, Approves 3% For Host Communities In PIB

The Electoral Act Amendment Bill and the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) were passed on Friday by House of Representatives, but not without a further aggravation of feud hovering the two heavy bills.

The Electoral Act Amendment Bill was passed despite the opposition lawmakers staging a walk out.

The lawmakers elected under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), walked out of plenary following the decision of the House to rescind the much-talked about Section 52 of the bill bordering on the electronic transmission of results.

Minority Leader Ndidi Elumelu said the House cannot be asked to rescind decision on a section since it was not ruled upon.

Elumelu argued that the section was not passed on Thursday, hence, no need for any rescission.

However, the deputy speaker insisted and ruled Elumelu out of order. The action infuriated members of the opposition who then staged a walk out.

Meanwhile, the green chamber decided to pass to bill with section 52 as contained in the report, which allows INEC to only use electronic transmission when practicable and possible.

Earlier, The New Diplomat had reported that the Executive Commissioner of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Mr. Adeleke Adewolu who appeared before the House of Representatives raised concerns over the transmission of results electronically, stating that no system can guarantee a 100 percent shield from hacking.

Also, the NCC Commissioner of technical, Ubale Maska, told the lower house that about 49% of polling units in Nigeria are without a network by the NCC.

Maska further added that 40% are with 2G while about 10% are without network at all, noting that only 3G and above can transmit results.

Also, in the absence of the PDP lawmakers, the report on PIB was equally considered and passed in line with the report of the conference committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives on the PIB which allocated 3% shares to host communities.

Recall that Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, on Thursday had ruled against the final passage of the PIB following the differences in the per cent shares allocated to the oil producing communities. While the Senate agreed on 3 per cent, the House of Representative passed 5 percent.

However, the Conference Committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives on the PIB, in its report adopted 3 per cent for oil producing communities as trust fund, as passed by the red chamber last week, a decision which generated uproar from some members of the green chamber.