Former United States Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, George Moose
Two foreign election monitoring groups on Tuesday enumerated loopholes
in the preparation for next month’s elections by Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) and tasked the commission to bridge the gap.
They also urged various political parties canvassing for people’s votes
in the February polls to focus on issue-based campaigns which they said
should border on security, economy and governance.
The groups, National Democratic Inistitute (NDI) and International
Republican Institute (IRI), made the appeal after a delegation of both
groups concluded a five-day mission to Nigeria.
Led by former United States Assistant Secretary of State for African
Affairs, George Moose, the delegation urged INEC to urgently complete
the distribution of permanent voters’ cards (PVCs) to all eligible
voters.
It also tasked INEC to urgently complete the procurement of card
readers and simultaneously communicate relevant information on these
issues to the electorate as soon as possible.
It also tasked the electoral commission to improve its communication
strategy with voters to include daily press briefings and more frequent
public service announcements - sometimes using local languages with a
view to bridging communication gap on voting procedure and level of
preparation for the polls.
The delegation also tasked INEC to undertake what it described as voter
education effort to demonstrate to the public the use of new technology
such as PVCs and card readers.
It also advised INEC to accelerate recruitment and training of polling
officials, explore ways to increase voting by internally displaced
persons (IDPs) and ensure that those who registered among them are not
disenfranchised.
The group tasked the federal government to make all possible efforts to
provide adequate security and necessary support for the conduct of the
polls.
According to it, the security provision should reinforce security
measures within the framework of the law without intimidation to
facilitate the conduct of polls in all 36 states and the Federal Capital
Territory (FCT).
It as well urged the government to stress the constitutional obligation
of security agencies and charge them to be professional and impartial
in the discharge of their duties during the elections.
The group reported that unlike the three previous elections conducted
in 1999, 2003 and 2007, the 2011 elections were successfully conducted,
marking a “turning point in the country’s democractic trajectory.”Culled from Thisday
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