Stakeholders Task INEC on Transparency, Wider Voter Confidence
By Kaosara Olayemi Oladimeji
Stakeholders in Nigeria’s electoral process have acknowledged the incremental progress and technological innovations already introduced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), even as they renewed calls for stronger reforms to restore citizens’ confidence in democracy.
The town hall meeting, held on Wednesday at E-Phoenix Hotel, Ilorin, with support from the MacArthur Foundation, brought together INEC officials, the National Orientation Agency (NOA), community leaders, lawyers, youth groups and academics.
In his opening remarks, Executive Director of Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA), Mr. Ezenwa Nwagwu, said reforms such as the adoption of digital tools for election management, improved transparency measures, and incremental policy changes were important gains that must not be overlooked.
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“These innovations show that our democracy is not standing still. Citizens should take encouragement from the progress so far, but must also push harder for deeper reforms. Electoral reform is too important to be left in the hands of politicians alone,” he stressed.
Participants at the training also received presentations on INEC’s deployment of technological reforms, delivered by Senior Programme Officer, Mr. Isaiah Amonye, who outlined how innovations like electronic accreditation and result transmission have reshaped election conduct in recent years.
Breakout discussions at the event focused on four key themes: transparency, voter participation, electoral systems and legal frameworks.
On transparency, stakeholders urged the legalisation of the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IREV) to ensure its continuous use, and advocated early voting rights for security personnel and ad-hoc staff.
On voter participation, they identified insecurity, bureaucratic hurdles and low civic awareness as persistent barriers, and called for continuous voter education campaigns driven by INEC in collaboration with civil society and the media.
Debates on electoral systems revisited the question of retaining the first-past-the-post model versus adopting proportional representation, while participants also demanded clearer ballot designs to aid illiterate voters.
In the area of legal frameworks, citizens pushed for stronger constitutional guarantees of INEC’s independence, stricter campaign finance rules and harsher penalties for offences such as vote-buying and intimidation.
Closing the town hall, Nwagwu charged participants to cascade the lessons from the engagement across their respective constituencies, insisting that reforms must be citizen-driven to be effective.
The Kwara State Resident Electoral Commissioner, in his response, commended the contributions and assured that INEC would review the recommendations as part of its internal reform process.
“INEC cannot reform itself in isolation. Constructive feedback like this is essential, and we will give the proposals the seriousness they deserve,” he noted.
