We’ve Big Challenge Managing 2023 Elections – INEC

As the 2023 general election draws close, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has expressed concern that the electoral body has huge challenges to contend with in managing the exercise to deliver a free, fair and credible election.

The INEC chairman who stated this at a retreat organised in Lagos on Wednesday by the commission for election stakeholders to reflect on lessons learnt from the Ekiti and Osun governorship elections noted that the increased voter population, number of polling units, election personnel, security considerations, logistics, and among others, pose enormous challenges to the electoral body.

Prof. Yakubu stated that the successes recorded in the last elections including that of Ekiti and Osun have raised huge public expectations to sustain the trend and raise the bar ever higher.

He observed that while lessons are drawn from the conduct of the recent off-cycle elections, the circumstances are different from that of the general election which involves the entire country. He, however, expressed optimism that following the principles adopted in the Ekiti and Osun elections, the commission would deliver successfully.

“While the Commission draws vital lessons from the conduct of the most recent off-cycle elections, managing the forthcoming General Election is huge. The voter population, the number of polling units, election personnel, security considerations, logistics, and so on are enormous.

“For instance, compared to the General Election, the Ekiti and Osun voter population constitutes just 3.27% of the total number of registered voters; 5.94% of the number of Local Government Areas, 5.77% of Registration Areas (or electoral Wards), and only 3.51% of PUs nationwide. Conducting a General Election will be an entirely different experience but the principles remain the same.

“After all, following the successful conduct of the Ekiti Governorship, some people wondered if the same can be repeated in Osun because of its much bigger size and population. As it turned out, Osun was an improvement on Ekiti. This gives us confidence that working on the same principles, the General Election will also be successfully delivered.”

While noting that it has been the tradition of the commission to review every election to note areas of improvement in subsequent ones, Yakubu stated that after the 2019 elections the commission identified over 170 recommendations, some of which  were implemented through the amendment of the Electoral Act 2022.

He further stated that INEC has in the last two election cycles (2011-2015 and 2015-2019) been striving to implement the diverse needs to reform the electoral process in the country with significant improvements being recorded in the conduct of elections.

He noted that the introduction of technology has made elections and the electoral process in Nigeria more transparent and credible, thereby boosting public confidence in the electoral commission.

Prof. Yakubu who noted that the roles of civil society organisations, election experts, and development partners have been a great source of encouragement to the commission to further improve the electoral process, urged the electoral stakeholders gathered for the retreat to make significant efforts in identifying the challenges and “proffer actionable recommendations on how the Commission can build on the success of recent elections in the forthcoming General Election.”

On his part, Chief Technical Adviser to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Bolade Eyinla who noted that the main objective of the retreat is to evaluate the conduct of the Ekiti and Osun Governorship elections from the initial state of preparedness to its execution, stated that the two elections were significant because they were conducted under the context of the new electoral legal framework and a number of new measures and innovations were introduced in the process.

Prof. Eyinla stated that it is important to undertake a comprehensive review and analysis of the application of the new provisions in the Electoral Act 2022, the new measures in the INEC Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections, 2022, deployment of the Biometric Voter Authentication System (BVAS) for voter accreditation, among others, with a view to acknowledging the successes recorded and identifying the challenges encountered for vital lessons in preparation for the 2023 General Election.

“Based on the honest discussions and critical appraisals of the elections, it is expected that we will be able to build upon and reinforce the successes achieved, identify and address the encountered challenges and make concerted efforts to apply the lessons learned in strengthening our administrative, operational and logistical arrangements for successful conduct and delivery of the 2023 General Election which is just 164 days away,” Eyinla stated.