Yiaga Africa calls for overhaul, reforms in INEC to restore public confidence in Commission

APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
Yiaga Africa, a frontline non-profit organization promoting participatory democracy, human rights and civic participation has called for the overhaul of the appointment process of the commissioners of Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in order to restore public confidence in the electoral commission.
The Board Chairman of Yiaga Africa, Dr Hussaini Abdu, said at the official presentation of the organisation’s final report on Nigeria’s 2023 Presidential and general elections in Abuja on Friday that there was a pressing need to unbundle the electoral body and shift some of its institutional responsibilities to other institutions.
He also called for the abolition of the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) as the sole means of voter identification during elections in the country.
According to Adbu, the measure will address myriad of challenges associated with collection of PVCs and voter accreditation, which disenfranchises many voters during elections.
He suggested the review of the requirement for voter identification, following the introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System that stores biometric information of voters.
“The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should, therefore, abolish the use of PVC and adopt the use of other legally acceptable means of identification for voter verification such as driver’s license, international passport, national identity card,” he said.
He also called on the National Assembly to amend the electoral legal framework to enable INEC to produce the voter register from the national identity database compiled by the National Identity Management Commission.
According to him, it will reduce the cost of elections, facilitate regular updates to the register and foster harmonisation of the national database.
The other recommendations by Yiaga Africa in its report to strengthen the Nigerian electoral process include electoral reforms that can compel all stakeholders, especially INEC and political parties to comply with the rules and guidelines.
It suggested that the responsibility of political party registration and regulation and electoral offences prosecution should be removed from the commission.
It also suggested that professional skills and qualification should be considered when making appointments into the Commission in order to strengthen the institutional independence of INEC.
On appointment, Yiaga Africa said that the appointing authority should subject nominees to public scrutiny before transmitting nominations to the Senate for confirmation.
“We also want INEC to be unbundled and as such, recommend that the National Assembly should, through legislation, establish a Political Party Registration and Regulatory Commission and an Electoral Offences Commission.
“This will reduce INEC’s enormous and onerous responsibilities, which in the long run will improve its efficiency, effectiveness, and credibility,” the report said, adding that INEC should address the ambiguities, complexities, and inadequacies of the electoral legal framework and enhance the integrity and accuracy of voter registration.
The conduct of the 2023 presidential and general elections by INEC had been adjudged by local and international observers as below acceptable international standards. Two leading opposition parties, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP) rejected the results announced by the electoral body and headed to the courts to contest the process and result of the elections.
GIK/APA