A Bill for an Act to establish the Nigerian Political Debate Commission with responsibility to conduct and organise debate for candidates of political parties seeking elective positions in the country passed second reading yesterday in the senate.
The Bill, sponsored by Senator Abdulfatai Buhari (Oyo North) seeks to give legislative backing for the establishment of a commission with responsibility to organise and conduct debates for all the candidates of political parties cleared by Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, to particinetpate in election into the offices of the President, Vice President, governors and deputy governors.
In his lead debate, Senator Buhari said if the Bill scales final passage and assented to by the President, it would strengthen the nation’s democracy and bring it in conformity with the practice in other renowned democracy of the world.
He explained that when passed into law, the debate would be used to sample candidates’ knowledge on a wide range of issues such as a detailed analysis of how they intend to drive the economy, foreign, health and education policies among other.
According to him, one noteworthy area of the potential impact of the debate is its capacity for what political scientists call agenda setting, adding that voters learn from debates and are able to describe the platform of the candidates and opens up more information about the pedigree of the candiin the contest.
He said: “Anyone who desires to be governor or president should be confident enough to lay a detailed analysis of his or her plans before the electorate.
“This will offer the electorate the avenue to evaluate candidates and they will vote along ideological lines rather than on ethnic or religious allegiance as it is prevailing in our country today.
“If African countries can successfully organise election debates for their political nominees thereby strengthen their democracy, it can only be an oversight on the part of Nigerian, who prides itself as the giant of Africa not to provide an all-inclusive avenue for her electorates to assess their representatives through informed process.”
The lawmaker noted that the current electoral debate tagged “Nigerian Election Debate”, is an effort in futility, as participants find pleasure in boycotting at will, adding that the Nigerian nascent democracy cannot develop by this attitude.
He further noted that if the Bill scales through final passage, it would create a sea of change in the way Nigerians view power.
“It will offer Nigerians a chance to evaluate candidates so that they can vote along policy or ideological lines instead of ethnic allegiance and this will equally lead to the development of strong democratic institutions that would neutralise the patronage system that makes ascending to power so turbulent,” Buhari said.
Having enjoyed the overwhelming support of senators, the Bill was passed for second reading and referred to the Committee on INEC for further legislative consideration.
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