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The hopes of
Nigerians abroad to vote in the country’s next general election were
dashed yesterday as the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee on
the review of the 1999 Constitution said there is no immediate plan for
that because of the enormous resources involved.

The chairman of the committee, Usman Bayero Nafada, disclosed this in Abuja on Wednesday.,

Mr. Nafada, who
spoke at a press conference to review the activities of the committee
whose report was considered on Tuesday, said the committee did the cost
implication of allowing Nigerians in Diaspora to vote in next year’s
election and subsequent ones and discovered that it would surpass the
funds needed to conduct elections locally.

The House had, on
Tuesday, amended 40 sections of the constitution at a Committee of the
Whole. The lawmakers rejected four other areas.

“We have considered
the issue of Nigeria in Diaspora voting. Unfortunately, it is not
possible for now. We say we have enough Nigerians at home to vote. But
if you say Nigerians in the Diaspora should vote, it may require more
money than what we would spend locally.

“Nigerians in the
Diaspora are not in one particular country, they are spread all over
the world. And you cannot say because you have a large number in
country A, you cannot say country A should vote and deny those in other
countries from voting. And if you do the cost analysis, you will
discover that it is highly expensive,” Mr. Nafada, who is also the
deputy speaker of the House, said.

Stressing that the
voting system is still manual, Mr. Nafada, however, said that the issue
may be considered in future when voting is done electronically, during
which, he remarked, the cost may be reduced.

“For now,” he said
“we have decided that it should be shelved till things improve.”
Reminded that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is
already using four countries as a test case ahead of next year’s
general election, Mr. Nafada said the electoral body risks going
against the law of the land.

“Ours is to make
law. If you follow the law, fine and good. If anybody goes out and vote
in four countries, ask him where he derives the law from.” He also
regretted the rejection of the committee’s proposals that only those
indicted by the courts should be disallowed from contesting elections,
saying some members voted in line with the thinking of their state
governors, whom he said had set up administrative panels of inquiry to
disqualify their opponents.

He defended members
of the committee, saying they did not make the recommendation for
selfish interest, since none of them has been indicted by any of such
panels.

More states are coming

Mr. Nafada revealed
that the National Assembly may recommend the creation of between 8 and
10 more states, four or five each in the Northern and Southern parts of
the country, but said the committee has not taken any definite
conclusion on the matter.

The deputy speaker
said he does not see any difficulty in the 36 states Houses of Assembly
endorsing the areas recommended for amendment by the National Assembly,
stressing that at each point during the amendment process, the
committees were in constant touch with the state legislature and the
Nigeria Governors Forum.