More than two years after lawmakers returned to chambers renovated at a reported cost of N37 billion, the National Assembly is still grappling with malfunctioning electronic voting equipment and faulty microphones, raising fresh questions about the value of the refurbishment.
Between April 2022 and April 2024, the Senate and House of Representatives chambers were vacated due to renovation works at the National Assembly complex.
Former President Muhammadu Buhari first approved the project in 2019 and it was criticised for its cost before being completed in phases.
Despite extensive rehabilitation, lawmakers have reported recurrent technical problems affecting the plenary sessions.
The main problem has been the malfunction of the electronic voting system, which has forced both chambers to resort to manual voting when considering major constitutional amendments.
On June 11, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas told members of parliament that the electronic voting system could not be used in deliberations on the state police bill.
“The electronic voting system is not working at the moment so we are going to do a head count,” Abbas said before members voted manually.
The Senate also ditched electronic voting on June 24 when its voting machine reportedly malfunctioned while considering the same constitutional amendment.
Meanwhile the problems with faulty microphones have continued to plague proceedings beyond the voting system.
Before the debate on the state police proposal could continue, Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu was seen making several attempts to fix a broken microphone when the debate began.
A number of legislators have also had to change seats and use working microphones at other members’ desks during debates.
Journalists reporting from the public gallery on the plenary 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 worries about the renovated chambers emerged.
In that year, Senator Ali Ndume had during plenary criticised the facilities, saying the Senate chamber looked more like a conference room than a modern legislative chamber.
“There is no voting machine here. “If we are to vote electronically, the facilities are not there but we had that before,” Ndume said at the time.
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 breakdown of the electronic voting system has also revived discussions on the parliamentary voting procedures, particularly on constitutional amendments that require support from at least two-thirds of lawmakers.