The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been meeting critical stakeholders on preparations for next year’s elections. MUSA ODOSHIMOKHE examines the issues that will guarantee free and fair polls.
THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) recently met critical stakeholders for support ahead of next year’s elections. The commission met the business community to explore ways of ensuring a stable economy after the election. It has also organised a workshop on logistics and security. Both events proved useful, given Nigerians expectation when they cast their votes.
Analysts say the discussions were strategic to nipping in the bud any likely shortcomings that may affect the contest. Key among them is the effect of political instability and how it can endanger the economy. Stakeholders believe that election violence usually leaves a sour taste in its wake and that such an outcome should be prevented.
Other observers insist that this is not the first time INEC would be promising Nigerians credible polls, but in many instances such promises were not fulfilled. It is simply not enough, they say, to seek the support of stakeholders. What matters most, in their view, is the commitment of the commission in plugging possible loopholes that may mar the conduct of the election.
They urged the commission to put its house in order, by taking steps to instill discipline among its staff, prevent under-age voting and make use of the electronic voting to prevent fraud.
INEC staffs were accused of compromise in the past, by collecting gratification and looking the other way. A source said security agencies that are supposed to guarantee the sanctity of elections also do not help matters. Some security agents were indicted in the past, for aiding politicians to perpetrate fraud, such as snatching of ballot boxes.
INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu who gave an insight on the consequence of election fraud said the outcome of 2019 election would go a long way in defining how the economy would recover from its present parlous state. He said a rancorous election situation would lead to capital flight and stall internal growth. This, he added, could be prevented when everyone is committed to ensuring a better election.
Yakubu said the meeting with the business community facilitated better understanding and pointed the way forward to stabilise the polity. He added that the business community was one of the biggest beneficiaries of a stable political climate, adding that the outcome of next year’s general elections would define the nation’s economic progress.
The INEC chairman maintained that the tendency by the business community of detaching itself from elections was always there and that such position could no longer be sustained.
He said: “Campaign promises by elected officials become difficult to actualize when businesses are dislocated. The fewer the job opportunities available, the more social problems become intractable.
“Flawed elections result in the flight of capital and expertise, resulting in unavailability of skilled manpower and atmosphere of rancour. It makes the task of safeguarding existing investment and attracting new investors more difficult.”
Economic analysts maintain that the task ahead of INEC in 2019 was to institutionalize the culture of planning. They say the election must be well guided, because of the rising cases of violence in the country.
According to the European Union (EU) reports, its members are worried because of violence in parts of Nigeria. They cited states in Benue, Plateau, Taraba, Borno and other volatile states. They wonder how INEC would confront the challenges from these states in the election year, particularly given that business life in the affected states are already at low ebb ahead of the contest.
But INEC maintained that the 2019 election would produce the desired result. It stated: “Realizing this fact, the commission began to prepare for the 2019 general election with a review, formulation and validation of the strategic plan, strategic programme of action and the election project plan covering the post 2015 five-year electoral circle.
“Just like election proper, election dates in Nigeria are no longer a matter of guess work. We believe that doing so will engender certainty and give sufficient time to political parties, civil society organizations, media, security agencies and business community to plan.”
The chairman noted that the business community should assist in the areas of voters’ education. This, he said, could be done through corporate social responsibility, particularly those in advertising, telecommunication, transport, mass media, hospitality, entertainment. He added: “They can work together to develop messages and the dissemination of same. If done this way, the method would seamlessly deliver goods and services to customers. And, over time, it can perfect the capacity to deliver products to the remotest location nationwide.”
Stakeholders during the workshop on logistics and security urged INEC to handle logistics with all seriousness, because it would go a long way to shape the direction of the election. They maintain that the timely delivery of materials and personnel to polling units across the country were the major aspects that INEC and other critical stakeholders must address.
Yakubu said the prompt delivery of electoral materials to the polling booths in the right time is the key to making the poll credible. He said: “Nigerians would expect the polling units to be open by 8 am on February 16, 2019 and March 2, 2019. If we don’t open the polling units at 8 am, it means we have not started well.
“If we open the polling units or a substantial majority of them by 8 am, we would have achieved a considerable part of the responsibility in election management and other things will fall in place. We have been required to deliver personnel and electoral materials in 119,973 locations nationwide and they must open simultaneously.”
The chairman added that elections required careful planning and that deployment and retrieval of logistic materials must be put in proper perspective to get desired outputs. He said: “Logistic is basically public service, some citizen may understand if we don’t deliver by opening polling units by 8 am. Others will see it as incompetence of the electoral commission; this work is sensitive. So, we are determined as the election management body to ensure that polling units are opened by 8 am.
“To be able to do so, we need the contribution, support, suggestion and inputs of those who have been handling these as a matter of their respective constitutional duties. The management of the electoral process is not left to the commission. It is a Nigerian project; it is not an INEC project.”
The Project Director of the European Centre for Electoral Support (ECES), Mr. David Le Norte, who was represented during the workshop on logistics by Mr. Rudoff Elbling, said delivery of electoral materials was a time bound event and that it required precision and exactitude to get the required results.
He added: “For a vast geographical country like Nigeria with pockets of different terrains, the importance of putting in place efficient and effective logistic deployment of personnel and election material to service about 1558 constituencies cannot be over emphasized.”
Norte said the workshop would address the electoral challenges. He urged stakeholders to contribute to the electoral success.
On the same page with him was the International Foundation for Electoral Commission (IFEC) representative, Mr. Seeray Jay, who said logistic and personnel are one of national election problems, stressing all hand must be on deck to ensure the coming electing was hitch free. He said: “To do this, INEC has to rely on capable and professional transportation service providers, whether public or private; one that know, think and act like INEC.”
Members of the political class believe it was beyond promises. They say INEC had narrowed the chances or prospects for a hitch-free election in previous outings.
For instance, the National Chairman of the United Peoples Party (UPP), Chief Chekwas Okorie, said the present INEC has hailed the present INEC leadership, saying it has what it takes to conduct free, fair and credible election. He said the commission already has in place an electronic voters’ register and an electronically generated permanent voter’s cards (PVCs), with all the bio-data of registered voters in the chips.
Okorie said: “It also has upgraded card reader which has the capacity and capability of transmitting result from polling units to the central server at the local, state and national levels at the same time. With this in place, all that INEC needs to do is the political will to be sincere.
“The elections that we have observed recently indicated staff that compromised and fall victim of the inducement of large pocket. The process led to fraud. For instance, in the Anambra governorship election, there was nothing like secret ballot which the electoral act testified that voting should be by secret ballot system. But, in that situation, the ballot boxes were removed from the cubicle and brought out in the open.
“So, voters could thumb print and show it to the people who will to pay them that they had voted for them. From that point, he would simply work across to collect his money. The security agencies had already been compromised and so they watch while the malfeasance is taking place.
“All that INEC had perfected and put in place had amounted to nothing, because of corruption in the system. The inducement of the presiding officers who are part of INEC and it is INEC that can tell Nigerians that all that was observed in the past cannot happen again.
“It is also INEC that will make it clear to the people that the country will not use underage voters, because the technology has been put in place to perfect all that. With increased number of voters, if INEC is able to do its job perfectly, there will be no cause to worry.”
Afenifere Publicity Secretary, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, said it is important for INEC to ensure that the voters register is ready before the election. He said the INEC chairman promised in Lagos that the commission was going to release the Kano report on underage voting.
Odumakin added: “It is also important for INEC to ensure that its staffers are well trained and retrained. On the Card Reader, what happened in the previous elections should not happen again. Remember former President Goodluck Jonathan went to the polling booth to vote, but the Card Reader could not recognize his finger print. There are so many people like that. This time around, the Card Reader should be well tested ahead of the elections.
“During the previous election, some Card Reader machines arrived the country on the day of the election. That should not be the case this time around. They should ensure that Card Readers are well tested and confirmed functional.
The Afenifere scribe said: “INEC should ensure there is a level-playing field for all the political parties. It should not pander to incumbency; the security men on duty must rise to the occasion.”