National Assembly rejects constitutional amendment to allow diaspora voting for 2023 elections

LAWMAKERS in both chambers of Nigeria's National Assembly voted to reject diaspora voting tonight as they refused to support a constitutional amendment that would have allowed Nigerians living outside the country to participate in the 2023 elections.

In a major setback for diaspora organisations, -like the Central Association of Nigerians in the UK (Canuk) and Nigeria in Diaspora Organisation (Nido), both chambers voted overwhelmingly against the amendment. In the senate, the vote was 29 for and 62 against with one abstention, while in the House of Representatives, it was a whopping 240 against, with only 58 parliamentarians voting for the amendment.

Titled a Bill to Alter the Provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to Provide for Diaspora Voting and for Related Matters, the amendment was the culmination of years of campaigning for diaspora voting. Hon Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the chair of the Nigeria Diaspora Commission, who has campaigned for diaspora voting for years, said she was disappointed with the result.

Also tonight, the senate passed a bill to grant full financial and administrative autonomy to local governments across the country. This bill seek to amend the constitution to repeal the state joint local government account and provide for a special account into which all allocations due to the local governments councils, from the federation account and state government shall be paid.

From henceforth, each local government council is to create and maintain its own special account to be called Local Government Allocation Account into which all the allocations will be paid. In addition, the bill also mandates each state to pay to local government councils in its area of jurisdiction such proportion of its internally generated revenue in such manner as may be prescribed by the House of Assembly.

In addition, the bill seeks to allow local governments to conduct their own elections. Senators also voted in favour of financial autonomy for state houses of assembly and its judiciary.