As Nigerians might never see the impact of the N355 billion budgeted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 2023 general elections and the N18 billion assigned for the 2023 supplementary elections, a law professor, Senior Advocate of Nigeria and one-time United Nations Special Rapporteur on Trafficking persons in Africa, Prof. Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, SAN has said it’s “time devise innovative ways to deal with INEC in the face of diminishing performance”
Taking to her X handle, Ezilo said: “Time to devise innovative ways to deal with INEC in the face of diminishing performance. We should consider privatising, commercialising, and warning politicians and electorates to beware of their patronage—immediate gains reallocating the humongous and unjustifiable INEC budget”
Earlier in the year, a coalition of over 700 human rights organisations under the aegis of the Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room said INEC should apologise to Nigerians for not living up to expectations in the 2023 general elections.
“Since voter information no longer resides in the Permanent Voters Cards in future elections, INEC should consider abolishing the use of PVCs and introduce the use of alternative means of identification such as National Identity Card, International Passport, or Drivers’ License. This will further reduce the cost of elections in Nigeria,” the coalition also stated.
Demanding what it described as post-election audit to enable the commission to understand and account for lapses during the elections, the organisations called on the National Assembly to set up an independent readiness assurance investigation to ascertain the level of preparations before major elections.
The coalition said the recommendations were necessary to improve INEC and the electoral processes offered for consideration and possible implementation by election stakeholders in Nigeria.
According to them, the Nigerian constitution should be amended to eliminate the position of Resident Electoral Commissioners under the control and direction of INEC through the appointments of State Directors of Elections to replace RECs.
The CSOs said the suggestion by the 2005 Justice Muhammadu Uwais Committee for the unbundling of INEC should be considered and implemented without delay, while an effective legal framework should be formulated for the establishment of the Electoral Offences Commission and Tribunal, Political Parties Registration and Regulation Commission, and an agency to handle constituency delimitation.
A coalition of international election observers also blamed the Commission for lack of transparency in the conduct of the 2023 presidential and national assembly elections in Nigeria.
Sadly the Saturday supplementary elections has further left huge gaps in the conduct of elections in Nigeria.
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