PREAMBLE
In its determined effort to sustain the gains of the April 2011 General Elections adjudged by both domestic and international observers as the freest, fairest and most credible in Nigeria’s electoral history and recognizing the need to carry along all its staff in discharging its responsibilities and obligations as an Electoral Management Body; conscious of the value of periodic institutional evaluations of programmes as important components in building strong and responsive institutions; ready to learn from and share the wealth of institutional experience its staff have accumulated over years of managing the electoral system; and desirous of learning from best practices and addressing past errors, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in collaboration with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), organized a retreat for its Electoral Officers from the six geo-political zones in Merit House, Abuja between 11th and 14th July, 2011.
The retreat’s main objective was to critically evaluate and assess the January, 2011 Voter Registration Exercise and the April, 2011 General Elections as part of the overall programme of the Commission to build a professional, world-class Electoral Management Body and to further deepen the gains that have been recorded so far. More specifically, the retreat extensively deliberated on the electoral process and its institutional basis, focusing on issues such as: identification and verification of polling units; voter registration, including the consolidation/printing of voters’ register and display of the register for claims and objections; party primaries and the and the nomination of candidates; political campaigns, including campaign financing; issues related to election or polling day, including counting, collation, announcement and transmission of results; issues related to the postponement of elections; legal and procedural frameworks for electoral activities, voter education and public enlightenment; issues related to the security of elections, election materials and personnel; issues related to elections observation; issues relating to the identification, recruitment and training of ad-hoc staff; as well as logistic and operational issues, including communications, transportation of electoral materials, and the coordination and planning of field operations among others.
OBSERVATIONS
After extensive deliberations, the retreat observed as follows:
1. That the verification of polling units (PUs) conducted just before the registration and elections was a significant and welcome development, for it provided the Commission with first-hand knowledge of the location of PUs thus enabling the Commission to plan, procure, recruit, train, deploy and maintain materials and personnel in, and, for known locations. This has helped not only prevent the diversion of electoral materials and leakages, it also made possible quick interventions to address challenges during both the registration and elections. Similarly, the decision to peg PUs to a maximum of 300 voters is a welcome development. However, new demographic and economic changes in both urban and rural areas have posed new challenges to the existing structure of PUs.
2. That the voter registration exercise for the first time gave the country the most comprehensive and credible Voters’ Roll in its electoral history; it also created a huge biometric database essential for planning purposes not only for the Commission, but also for other institutions and bodies. The consolidation and printing of the voters’ register facilitated effective identification of voters that helped substantially eliminate practices such as multiple registration. Finally, the display of voters’ register enhanced the credibility of the national voters’ roll, as well as created room for detecting fictitious or double registration. It also facilitated the admittance of missing names on the register.
3. That the identification, recruitment and training of ad-hoc staff have been well planned and handled. In particular, the recruitment of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members as ah-hoc staff for both the registration and elections was an excellent move, for it has added value and credibility to the electoral process.
4. That the monitoring of party primaries and nomination of candidates is an essential aspect of the Commissions’ contribution towards deepening internal democracy in political parties and building confidence in the electoral process.
5. That the plans and programmes put in place for election or polling day were a testimony to the extensive preparations by the Commission for the April, 2011 General Elections. The retreat commended plans put in place for the counting, collation, announcement and transmission of results, and observed that such plans conferred an additional mark of credibility on, and, acceptability for the April 2011 General Elections. While not a few were disappointed by the postponement of the April 2nd National Assembly Elections, the plans put in place subsequently vindicated the Commission’s sound judgment.
6. The retreat noted that the legal and procedural frameworks (the Constitution and the Electoral Act 2010 (as Amended) in place have enabled the Commission to discharge its obligations and responsibilities without much constraint. These instruments have given the Commission wide-ranging powers to manage the electoral process although challenges in the area of monitoring party primaries and campaign financing still remain.
7. That voter education and public enlightenment on elections and the electoral process is a key element in any effort towards the deepening of democracy. Both are essential in creating an active civic consciousness and a participatory citizenry. The retreat observed that though the Commission pursued voter education and public enlightenment vigorously, there is room for improvement in voter education.
8. The retreat lauded the establishment of the Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), a development which significantly improved the security of the April 2011 General Elections. It commended the role of security agencies in striving to create a different disposition from previous practice in managing election security. However, security agents involved in election duties still required specialized training in tune with civic duties and responsibilities during elections.
9. It also noted that the role and participation of stakeholders such as civil society organisations, political parties, development partners and donor agencies was very helpful to electoral administration and information management. The retreat commended INEC for providing uniform guidelines for both domestic and foreign observers.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Having made the foregoing observations and being committed to the continual improvement of the electoral process in Nigeria as well as to the transformation of INEC into one of best Electoral Management Bodies in the world, the retreat made the following recommendations:
1. The decision to peg PUs to a maximum of 300 voters should be retained. The possibility of constructing permanent structures for PUs should seriously be considered. Similarly, all PUs that are named after individuals or non-neutral places/buildings or structures should be re-named and re-located to bear neutral names and locations. Congested PUs in single locations should be decentralized. INEC should also re-design the Polling Units Directory to indicate locations and maps of PUs. Finally, there is a need for new PUs given the changing demographic composition of urban and rural areas across the country.
2. Efforts should be made to ensure timely procurement of registration materials before the commencement of such exercises. Registration personnel should be adequately trained. The Commission should also ensure that plans for continuous voter registration, preferably at the Ward level are put in place as soon as possible. The period set aside for display of the preliminary voters’ register should be extended to at least four weeks and the display exercise should be widely publicized. There should be uniformity in the conduct of the exercise while Automatic Finger Identification System (AFIS) should be run at the end of the exercise. Similarly, the plans for the storage and maintenance of the voter registration equipment should be vigorously implemented.
3. The remaining challenges in the recruitment and training of ad-hoc staff should be further looked into. The Commission should explore the use of other credible personnel from the Federal Civil Service and Federal tertiary institutions as ad hoc staff in addition to NYSC. In terms of recruitment, adequate time should be given for the placement of advert(s). Training for regular staff should be continuous, while adequate time should be given for the training of ad-hoc staff. Similarly, in-depth training should be continuously planned for security personnel on election duties.
4. The Commission should be more seriously involved in the monitoring of party primaries and should invoke all relevant powers given it by law. For instance, it should insist on adequate notice and clearly identifiable venues for the primaries from political parties.
5. The Commission should in the future look more closely into the timing of elections taking note of seasonal variations in the economic activities of our people. The transmission of results should be done at all levels of the result chain i.e. from PUs through to the National Collation Centre electronically.
6. The legal and procedural frameworks for the management of the electoral system should be re-examined to identify areas where the Commission’ powers could be strengthened, such as in the monitoring of political parties, political campaigns and campaign financing. Similarly, there is a need to have enabling legal provisions that will provide Nigerians in the Diaspora an opportunity to participate in the electoral process. The Commission should also be firm in prosecuting electoral offenders in order to seriously address and tackle the culture of impunity.
7. Voter education should not only be vigorously pursued, it should also be a continuous process at all levels. Local Government Offices of INEC should be more involved in voter education and public enlightenment. Similarly, the capacity of relevant departments in charge of voter education and public enlightenment at all levels of the Commission should strengthened and supported to discharge their responsibilities.
8. Security should be beefed up for electoral personnel during electoral activities; separate vehicular facilities should be provided for security personnel to forestall their having to insist on using vehicles meant for the conveyance of other electoral personnel and materials during elections. Intensive and continuous training should also be provided security personnel involved in electoral duties since election security is specialized and slightly different from normal security considerations.
9. The Commission should sustain its practice of providing uniform guidelines for domestic and foreign observers and print observer reports into booklets for use as reference materials for its field officers to enable corrections or avoidance of mistakes in the future. Lists of accredited observers should be sent to the state offices well ahead of elections to forestall interference from unauthorised ‘observers’ or of observers operating in areas where they have not secured approval to operate.
CONCLUSION
In general, retreat participants thanked the Commission for the opportunity to voice their opinions and share their experiences with the Commission and their colleagues from all parts of the country. The retreat appealed to INEC to critically assess and adopt these observations and recommendations for they hold a lot of promise for meeting the aspirations of Nigerians for freer, fairer and more credible future elections.