Electoral Act Amendment Bill to be Laid July 13, Says Spokesman

Udora Orizu in Abuja

The Spokesman for the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, has said that the electoral amendment bill would be laid on July 13 before the lawmakers embarked on their annual summer break.

Kalu disclosed this to journalists yesterday in Abuja in order to clarify the speculations that the bill has been altered by members of the committee.

He agreed that it is the right of every Nigerian to ask questions and expressed his opinion but warned that people are judging and speaking too soon on the bill without minding that the National Assembly does not operate on the pages of newspapers.

The bill, according to him, must go through the whole nine yard and until the report goes through the Committee of a Whole, it would not become an official document.

Kalu also dismissed the insinuations that the establishment of the frontier exploration fund in the Petroleum Industry Bill was meant for the development of the north alone.

He explained that the fund would be used to develop oil exploration across the country and stressed that there are six basins in the country where oil is being explored at the moment, with three in the north and three in the south.

He further explained that the fund would not be at the disposal of the state governors where the exploration would take place but would only be released when there is evidence that there is oil in such basins