The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Forum of State Independent Electoral Commission (FOSIECON) held their joint Second Annual Conference at Kwara Hotel, Ilorin, on Wednesday, August 1st, 2012. The theme of the Conference was ‘Credible Local Government Election: It is possible.’
OBSERVATIONS
The one-day Conference, aware of the centrality of local government elections in Nigeria’s efforts at deepening democracy; committed to learning from national and global electoral best practises; recognizing the critical need of regular Local Government Elections as provided by law and the importance of the autonomy of Electoral Management Bodies, the Conference extensively deliberated on the issues and observed as follows:
a) That the independence and financial autonomy of State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) is critical to their capacity to conduct free, fair and credible elections;
b) That nine (9) states in the Federation have not duly constituted SIECs namely: Nasarawa, Bauchi, Kano, Bayelsa, Delta, Ekiti, Osun, Oyo and Anambra;
c) That of the 36 states and FCT, only 13 have elected local government namely: Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Sokoto, Cross River, Rivers and Ebonyi. Others are Kwara, Taraba, Jigawa, Ogun, Niger and Zamfara;
d) That while security of elections has visibly improved, there is yet a need to further address recurring incidents of violence elections;
e) That voter education is still inadequate as evidenced in the high number of voided ballots in both national and local elections, as well as low level of voter consciousness about basic operations of the electoral process;
f) That there is a need for a model state electoral law that can serve as a benchmark for the conduct of elections by SIECs;
g) That there is a need for increased capacity building and professionalization of Electoral Management Bodies; and
h) That development partners are playing a significant role in the effort to consolidate and deepen democracy in Nigeria.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Having made the foregoing observations, the Conference, desirous of repositioning electoral management in Nigeria to be more professional, efficient and credible, makes the following recommendations:
a) That there is an urgent need to amend relevant provisions of the law to strengthen the independence and financial autonomy of SIECs;
b) That states that do not have duly constituted SIECs are strongly urged to establish same without further delay;
c) That there is an urgent need for states where caretaker Committees or Sole Administrators are at the helm of affairs in Local Government to proceed with plans for elections in accordance with constitutional requirements;
d) That a strategic partnership between INEC and SIECs in collaboration with all Security Agencies should be forged to enhance the security of elections and thus their transparency and credibility;
e) That voter education should be intensified through innovative public enlightenment and civic education programmes that should include relevant stakeholders such as CSOs, political parties and development partners;
f) That FOSIECON should evolve a standard state electoral law that can be shared as a model that can be proposed for legislation by respective State Assemblies;
g) That INEC and SIECs should explore all relevant avenues to ensure professionalization through constant training and re-training of staff at all levels; and
h) That collaboration with development partners should be strengthened based on mutual respect and independence of EMBs.
CONCLUSION
The Conference rededicated itself to free, fair, and credible elections at all levels in Nigeria; deepening collaboration and sharing best practices as well as professionalizing electoral management in order to ensure free and fair elections. Consequently, a 10-point Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between INEC and FOSIECON was signed that created the framework for sustained collaboration.
