Calls to abolish the State Independent Electoral Commissions have been denied by delegates to the 13th National Delegates Conference of the Forum of State Independent Electoral Commissions of Nigeria in Jos.
Instead, they called for the reform of state electoral authorities that are tasked with holding local government elections, the European Union said in a statement on Thursday.
Through its Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria program, the European Union is sponsoring the conference, which aims to analyze the difficulties SIECs face and offer practical solutions to improve local election administration.
Prof. Samuel Egwu, Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang, his Nasarawa State counterpart Abdullahi Sule, FOSIECON Chairman, Jossy Eze; and the Independent National Electoral Commission delegate, Oliver Agundu, who addressed at the ceremony stated that there was no basis for scraping SIECs.
According to them, reforming the state electoral bodies would guarantee their independence along with their financial and administrative autonomy.
Egwu stated, “I support the retention and strengthening of SIECs because we operate a federal polity. “ The requirement of federalism forces us to strengthen local rule, and there is no other alternative. “ Giving INEC the authority to hold local elections is the second, and possibly more alluring, option.
Even though it seems straightforward, this deviates from federalism’s reasoning.
Establishing a new bureau to supervise elections for local governments is the third solution that some have suggested. On the Senate floor, though, this measure has already met an untimely end.
Therefore, my purpose is to respect federalism.
Eze bemoaned the fact that SIECs are frequently pressured to serve special interests in spite of their constitutional support.
According to him, while there are several bills before the National Assembly seeking to abolish SIECs or transfer their mandates, none appears to address the real issues.
Mutfwang said, “The conversation should begin with how we recruit leaders in this country. “We must develop a strategy that helps us identify individuals who genuinely have the people’s interest at heart.
“Bad governance does not just undermine democracy. It leads to underdevelopment and the waste of public resources.
“Autonomy is masking the real issues. What we need to focus on is efficiency. As someone who has governed at the local level, I believe improving governance at that tier is essential.”
Sule pledged his support for whatever reform solutions the conference agrees upon, even as he offered his state as a pilot for implementing the recommendations.
I hope, at the end of this conference, FOSIECON delegates will come up with actionable solutions. Many governors will be willing to support those efforts,” he said. “I offer Nasarawa State for any pilot initiatives that may be proposed. We have already taken similar steps with our State House of Assembly.”
The INEC representative, Agundu, urged SIECs to consider elections as ongoing processes rather than as isolated occurrences.
In order to properly enlighten the electorate, he also advocated for increased cooperation with civil society organizations and voter education initiatives.
“Electoral conduct should not be treated as isolated events by SIECs,” he stated. “Post-election activities are a part of the electoral process. We’ve seen that a lot of SIECs only get active during election seasons.
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