Daniel Kanu
Civil Society organisations, media and election consultants have agreed that building strong institutions, maximising technology, increased voter education, electoral security among other provisions would guarantee transparency, and trust in Nigeria’s future elections.
At a webinar, today, Tuesday 23 organised by the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) tagged: Nigeria Decides 2023: Unpacking the Ballot Dynamics and Charting Course for a Resilient Democracy” participants listed solutions to avert contentious future elections.
Notable speakers, including: Lanre Arogundade, International Press Centre, Seyi Olufemi, Digital expert, Akinbode Oluwafemi, CAPPA, Executive Director, Nnamdi Elekwachi, Activist, Jakpor Philip, Environmental activist among others harped on the need to wholistically address election lopeholes to ensure credibility, transparency, best practices, acceptability and trust in electoral process.
Speaking on Election conduct and Administration, Arogundade, said although Nigeria recorded success points, there is need to rise to the challenge of operational/logistics bottleneck, establishment of Electoral Offenders Commission, increased voter education, and arresting communication crisis issues during elections.
Also speaking on the role of technology to improve elections, Seyi Olufemi said ” The technology must ensure best practices, transparency of process and trust of citizens”.
Speaking on voter participation and security, Elekwachi harped on the need to restore confidence by removing unnecessary hiccups, ensuring safety, creating a level playing field, sensitising the electorate, among others.
He also pointed out the enormous powers vested in the Nigerian president which he noted has continued to raise suspicion.
Akinbode Oluwafemi, also pointed out that Nigeria, pitiably has become a country without records, adding that” Nigeria needs reliable data to build a strong and reliable society. We need a National Identify System that works”.
Recall that in the aftermath of Nigeria’s 2023 general elections, critical questions continue to surface about the effectiveness of the electoral process, election technology, the interplay of rhetoric, religious and ethnic factors in the country’s electoral process, and contentious post-election matters.