More than two years after lawmakers returned to chambers renovated at a reported cost of N37 billion, the National Assembly is still struggling with faulty microphones and malfunctioning electronic voting equipment, raising fresh questions about the value of the refurbishment.
The Senate and House of Representatives chambers at the National Assembly complex were closed for renovation works between April 2022 and April 2024.
The project was first approved in 2019 by former President Muhammadu Buhari and was criticised for its cost before it was completed in phases.
Despite extensive rehabilitation, lawmakers have reported recurrent technical problems that plague the plenary sessions.
The main problem has been the malfunctioning of the electronic voting system, forcing both houses to resort to manual voting when considering major changes to the constitution.
Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the House of Representatives, told parliamentarians that the electronic voting system cannot be used for the deliberations of the state police bill.
“The electronic voting is not working at the moment so we are going to do a head count before members vote manually,” Abbas said.
On June 24, the Senate also abandoned electronic voting after its voting machine reportedly malfunctioned while debating the same constitutional amendment.
In the meantime, outside the voting system, the problems with the faulty microphones continue to plague proceedings.
At the beginning of the debate, Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu was seen trying multiple times to repair a faulty microphone before the debate on the state police proposal could resume.
Several lawmakers have also had to move to new seats and use working microphones at other members’ desks during debates.
Reporting from the public gallery at the plenary, journalists have also complained about the poor quality of the sound, saying that debates are often hard to follow because speakers are inaudible.
In 2024, lawmakers returned and concerns were raised about the refurbished chambers.
During plenary in that year, Senator Ali Ndume had said that the facilities made the Senate chamber look more like a conference room than a modern legislative chamber.
‘We don’t have any voting machines here. “We had that before. If we are to vote electronically the facilities are not there,” Ndume said.
Reacting, Senate President Godswill Akpabio said the contract for the renovation was awarded in the last National Assembly under the leadership of former Senate President Ahmad Lawan.
The collapse of the electronic voting system has also revived discussions on parliamentary voting procedures, especially constitutional changes that need the support of two-thirds of the lawmakers.
