The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has identified voter education and sensitisation as one of the core areas the commission requires support from the United Nations for successful free, fair, credible, and inclusive general elections in 2023.
The commission in its daily bulletin, cited INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, to have listed the areas of required support when he received in audience the United Nations Needs Assessment Mission led by Serge Gakwandi Kubwimana, at the Commission’s headquarters, Abuja.
Yakubunoted that the size of Nigeria calls for the need to keep engaging citizens and stakeholders using different media platforms.
The INEC Chairman reiterated that the conduct of free, fair, credible, and inclusive elections remains the core concern of the commission.
He listed other areas of priorities for the Commission to include consolidating the gains of electoral reforms through increased capacity building for the Commission and other stakeholders.
Yakubu also identified enhancing the security of elections, increasing inclusivity and participation, as well as expanding the use of relevant technology in the electoral process.
He said that there were issues in the conduct and management of the electoral process that were actually sovereign responsibilities to be borne by the Nigerian government.
According to the INEC Chairman, “there are some areas of electoral activity where support will be appreciated and we have prioritized 5 areas.
“The first one is Training and Capacity Building support for staff of the Commission. The second is Voter Education and Sensitization. Given the size of the country we need to keep engaging using different media”.
Number three area of support as highlighted by the INEC Chairman “is election security and conflict mitigation.
The fourth area of support enumerated was capacity building for political parties, which nominated candidates for elections.
“So, we need to build the capacity of the parties to nominate good candidates, so that when elected they can represent the country well,” he added.
The INEC Chairman further identified inclusivity measures as the fifth area of support.
Yakubu said that the general election will be conducted in 1,491 Constituencies across the country. “We have 18 political parties. Assuming that half of them field candidates in all the constituencies, we are talking about close to 15,000 nominations which is really a huge task,” he added.
Yakubu stated that the voting population is currently 11 million larger than the other 14 countries in the West African sub-region put together.
The INEC chairman highlighted: “In 2019, we had 84 million registered voters, we are still registering voters for the 2023 general election, and in our estimation the voter population will be at least 90 million for 2023. At 90 million, it will make our voter register in Nigeria the largest in West Africa.
“Minus Nigeria, the other 14 countries in West Africa all together have about 73 million registered voters.
“At present, we have 84 million registered voters, so we have 11 million more registered voters than the rest of West Africa combined.
“So, each time we conduct an election in Nigeria, it is like we are conducting an election in the whole of West Africa. So, election in Nigeria is no joke at all”.
He disclosed that about 1 million election officials, including regular and temporary or ad-hoc staff would be needed for the 2023 general elections in the 176,846 polling units, across 8,809 Wards, and 774 Local Government Areas across the country.
Yakubu was optimistic of positive outcome given that the 2023 elections would be governed by the new Amended Electoral Act 2022.
The leader of the delegation from the United Nations, Kubwimana, had noted that they were in Nigeria in response to a letter written in January to the United Nations Secretary General, seeking the support of the organisation ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Kubwimana disclosed that the meeting with the Chairman and members of the Commission was the high point of a series of scheduled meetings with other key players in the democratic process such as the Leadership of the National Assembly, Leaders of Political Parties and the Government of Nigeria.
This, he said, is to explore ways of the U.N. intervention through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other entities on ground can support the democratic process in Nigeria.