The final vote on the 1999 Constitution review by the House of Representatives will be done on Wednesday clause-by-clause using iPads supplied and installed by the Nigerian Communications Satellite, NigComSat.
The lawmakers had postponed the voting of the report on ‘The Bill for an Act to further alter the provision of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic’ three times, with the last one on Tuesday last week on the ground that some members were yet to receive the copies of the report.
To save the House from embarrassment, NigComSat was invited after the breakdown of the electronic voting system in the chamber, who then supplied and installed 360 iPads for the legislators..
The lawmakers spent more than four hours in closed doors on Tuesday, trying to perfect the use of the new device before going into voting.
Addressing the members, Ahmed Rufai, Director General of NigComSat, who hinted that the tablets were brought in on Monday, said that the application has been tested for members to vote, using their iPads.
He advised them to fully charge the tablets ahead of Wednesday’s voting to avoid any form of embarrassment should the voting process take longer than expected.
Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Speaker of the House, pleaded with the press to seek the understanding of Nigerians to allow the system to be perfected for voting, adding, “what’s worth doing is worth doing well.”