March 04, (THEWILL) – The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has raised the alarm over prevailing security challenges in the country, which have led to increase in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
According to the commission, many of the IDPs are in the houses of friends and relatives and have lost their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), adding that it is practically impossible to recreate their constituencies and polling units.
This, among other security challenges, INEC said, may mar the conduct of the 2023 general elections.
Chairman of the commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, who expressed these concerns on Thursday in Abuja at a town hall meeting organised by the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), however reassured that the commission was determined to surmount these challenges and conduct free, fair, credible and inclusive elections
Yakubu, who was represented by the national commissioner and chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Barr Festus Okoye, noted that while it is easy to recreate constituencies and polling units in clustered IDP camps, it is next to impossible to do so for persons staying in scattered locations.
Okoye said, the commission will print new PVCs for IDPs and recreate their polling units in their camps, where they will be eligible to vote in some of the elections depending on their location and their proximity to their state and federal constituencies.
“This is in accord with section 24(1) of the Electoral Act, which provides that “In the event of an emergency affecting an election, the commission shall, as far as practicable, ensure that persons displaced as a result of the emergency are not disenfranchised.
“Based on this, the commission developed regulations and guidelines on IDP voting and will implement the intendment of the law and the regulations and guidelines.
“As you are aware, the commission is currently at the terminal phase of its continuous Voters Registration Exercise (CVR). There are so many communities that are still inaccessible to our registration officers. In the next few weeks, the commission will roll out modalities for the further devolution and rotation of the CVR to our registration areas, and the security of our personnel and the registrants are fundamental to the success of the exercise.
“We are determined to register all eligible registrants but will not expose our staff to unnecessary danger. We will roll out and roll back depending on the security situation in different parts of the country,” he said.
Speaking further, he said the commission had introduced new and creative changes in the enumeration of voters, the party nomination processes and the conduct of elections.
He disclosed that the commission was currently conducting the Continuous Voters Registration Exercise (CVR) both physically and online using the new INEC Voter Enrolment Device (IVED).
“The commission has introduced an online nomination portal through which political parties upload the list and personal particulars of their nominated candidates. The Commission has also introduced an online portal through which international and domestic observers and the media apply for accreditation.
“The commission has also introduced the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for voter accreditation and authentication. The commission introduced the INEC Result Viewing Portal (iRev) through which polling unit level results are uploaded to a result-viewing portal in real time.
“The commission is firmly of the view that greater use of technology in the electoral process will to a large extent reduce human interference in the voting, counting and collation process,” he said.
Okoye, however, said, the commission is conscious of the fact that technology does not operate itself and that the issue of human element is ever present.
“The commission will continue to learn from issues and challenges that arise from the deployment of technology and will continue to innovate and improve on them.
“The commission will expand the base of the training of its ad-hoc staff to acquaint them more with the workings of the BVAS and other technological innovations of the commission.”
Also speaking, the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, hailed the commitment of key stakeholders in the country to democracy and opposition to authoritarianism, adding that one way to restore public confidence in democracy is through free and fair elections.
Leonard said that the eyes of the world are on Nigeria this year and early next year as the nation prepares to conduct general elections and transition to a new government in 2023.
“The eyes of the world will therefore be on Nigeria this year and early next year as you prepare to choose a new president and transition to a new government.
“We were pleased that last week President Buhari signed Nigeria’s long-awaited Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law, ensuring adoption of a number of long sought-after reforms to the electoral process, including the electronic transmission of election results from polling places,” she said.
She also noted that Nigeria’s commitment to democracy and opposition to authoritarianism remains sound.
Her words: “Your leaders have been consistent in calling for the respect of presidential term limits, for example, and they have been quick to condemn military coups in West Africa and the rest of the continent.
“Beyond public pledges supporting freedom and democracy, however, I hope your group will use this opportunity to delve deeper into underlying factors that erode faith in democracy.
“Patronage politics, corruption, inequality, and the failure of many democratic governments to deliver for their citizens fuel public and media doubts about the democratic model, causing them to lose hope and cynically accept the status quo as inevitable and normal.”
Ambassador Leonard also said the United States would support Nigeria to defend its democratic ideals and practices.
She stressed that critical stakeholders in the country must start with renewed vigor and optimism to defend democratic ideals and practices at every turn.
The envoy said, “As civil society representatives, academics, youth leaders, editors, and journalists, you stand at the frontlines, and you will undoubtedly be remembered and judged by the Nigerian people based on how well you perform for them.
“Through these editor workshops, you have learned about some of the innovative approaches media managers employ to reduce or identify bias. You have learned how diversity in the media houses strengthens the overall scope and quality of reporting.
“Many of you are now consciously taking a more inclusive approach to staffing your newsrooms, including hiring more women.
“Editors like yourselves are in fact critical gatekeepers. Your actions and decisions level the playing field. You determine whose voices are heard, and what news topics receive in-depth coverage.
“In a digital age when the 24/7 news cycle is unrelenting and often bewildering, you help weed out the trivia to focus on the essential. You oblige candidates to respond to uncomfortable or pointed questions. You interview citizens and potential voters whose voices are not always amplified or heard.”
The envoy also noted that although editors may not always realise it, giving voice to the governed and the under-represented helps to reduce voter apathy.
In the United States, especially in the last 10-15 years, she said her country had witnessed the phenomenon of skeptical US voters who say that they cannot fully trust what they watch on cable news or read on the Internet.
“Competing TV news channels present opinion as fact to win over partisan viewers or capture a larger share of advertisers and the mass media market.
“As a whole, U.S. journalists and media groups enjoy immense press freedoms, and we tend to think of them as the best in the business. But they too face their own credibility gaps vis-a-vis their local and national audiences; it simply comes with the territory!.
“When you write, publish and broadcast thoughtfully, impartially, and with accuracy, your contribution to democracy is profound. When you uncover evidence that unscrupulous individuals have tried to hide or deny, you empower law enforcement and the judicial system.
“When you hold politicians to account with well-researched, non-partisan facts, you directly serve the interests of the voting public, and play a vital role in shaping public perceptions about not only those who currently govern but also about those who wish to govern in the future,” she added.
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