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I’ll sue contractor over faulty NASS microphones, Akpabio warns
🇳🇬 Nigeria /Crime & Justice

I’ll sue contractor over faulty NASS microphones, Akpabio warns

From Vanguard · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, threatened legal action against the contractor for the National Assembly renovation.
  • He cited persistent microphone failures and other technical faults as an embarrassment to Nigeria.
  • The Senate is documenting the issues, warning that legal steps will be taken if the contractor does not deliver a quality job.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio has threatened legal action against the contractor responsible for renovating Nigeria's National Assembly complex, citing ongoing technical failures that have embarrassed lawmakers. Akpabio expressed his deep displeasure with the persistent microphone malfunctions within the Senate chamber during a plenary session.

Distinguished colleagues, I hope you are taking note of the fact that our microphones are not working well because we are going to take action.

— Godswill AkpabioDuring a Senate plenary session, addressing colleagues about the faulty microphones.

"Distinguished colleagues, I hope you are taking note of the fact that our microphones are not working well because we are going to take action," Akpabio stated. He recounted an incident where he and the Speaker of the House of Representatives were "thoroughly embarrassed" during the opening of the National Assembly Open Week due to faulty facilities.

Akpabio emphasized that the same contractor handled the renovation of both the Senate and House of Representatives chambers. He warned that if the technical faults continue, the Senate would pursue legal avenues to ensure a job of acceptable quality is completed. The Senate leadership is actively documenting these recurring issues as preparation for potential action against the contractor.

I was at the House of Representatives yesterday to represent you at the opening of their National Assembly Week, and in the course of it, myself and the Speaker were thoroughly embarrassed.

— Godswill AkpabioDescribing the embarrassment caused by faulty facilities during a recent event.

The situation arises despite significant funds reportedly spent on the renovation. Lawmakers have consistently experienced microphone failures, poor audio quality, and malfunctioning electronic voting systems since returning to the refurbished chambers in April 2024. These technical challenges have even disrupted critical legislative processes, such as voting on the State Police Bill, forcing a resort to manual voting.

If this continues, we have steps we can take, legally, to ensure that a good job is done because this is an embarrassment to our nation.

— Godswill AkpabioWarning about potential legal action against the renovation contractor.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Vanguard. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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