Plateau: INEC seeks vetting of CSOs to ensure credibility – Agundu

The Plateau State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr. Tersoo Agundu, has advocated for the vetting of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), involved in election monitoring aimed at ensuring credibility and effectiveness.

Agundu said the recommendation also includes measures to decentralize the admission process for CSOs so as to enhance the quality of election monitoring and reporting, which will in turn contribute to a more robust electoral system.

The Plateau INEC boss stated this on Wednesday in Jos during a Capacity Building Workshop organized for critical election stakeholders.

The stakeholders workshop which is held quarterly aims to improve the conduct and execution of elections in the State, Agundu said in the fora while delivering a lecture on ways to hold successful elections.

“The Commission is actively seeking to improve the electoral process through collaboration with key stakeholders, particularly CSOs and political parties.

“The Commission has committed to quarterly meetings with CSOs, Political parties, and other stakeholders to foster dialogue and gather feedback on the electoral process.

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“The primary goal of these engagements is to enhance the electoral system. Ensuring elections are free, fair, credible, inclusive, and acceptable.

“The Commission emphasizes the importance of collaboration with CSOs and political parties in achieving this goal.

“The commission however values the input from CSOs and political parties, recognizing their role in advocating for electoral reforms and improving the electoral process”, he said.

The REC, identifying the challenges of the CSOs, also recognised the important roles played by the credible ones.

“There are challenges in distinguishing between credible CSOs and those that may not have the relevant expertise or mandate for election monitoring.

“The Commission has centralized the process of admitting CSOs for election monitoring, which has led to difficulties in ensuring the credibility of reports from those unfamiliar with the local context.

“We therefore suggest reverting to a decentralized system where state-level authorities have the responsibility to vet and shortlist CSOs.

“This would ensure that only qualified organizations with local knowledge participate in monitoring elections”, Agundu said