Nigerian youth urge the National Assembly to pass election-related bills, writes HASSAN MATHIAS KABULU
Every election cycle, Nigerians look up to the National Assembly, State Houses of Assembly and the President to amend the Constitution, Electoral Act and other election-related laws, to improve the quality of our elections. Declining electoral integrity has remained a major concern for Nigerians, especially the youth. Nigerians always expect the process of amending our legal framework to strengthen our electoral process to be quick and seamless, but almost always experience the opposite. The constitutional and electoral reform process sometimes begins late, experiences significant and avoidable delays, and are only concluded when the next election is already around the corner.
Then, after the polls, we return to the same conversation as if democracy is a wheel we keep pushing uphill only to watch it roll back. The 10th Senate and House of Representatives both inaugurated their Constitutional Review Committees in February 2024, seven clear months after their proclamation in June 2023. Setting up these committees within three months may have shown a greater sense of purpose. In 2024, the Senate and House Constitutional Review Committees released timelines for their engagements, including schedules for public hearings to receive input from the Nigerian public. The Senate Constitutional review committees ended up holding their public meeting in July 2025, nine months late from their original schedule of September 2024. The House also held theirs in July 2025, eight months late from their original schedule of October 2024. Our campaign, the Youth-Electoral Reform Project (YERP-Naija), attended all 19 regional and national public hearings held by the Senate and House Constitutional Review Committees and commend both legislative houses for the open and frank discussions held. Timing however, seems to be a bottleneck once again, as a vote on the Constitutional Review Bills discussed during those public hearings is not in sight, three and a half months after those public hearings.