From Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin
The former director general of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Prof. Tonnie Iredia, yesterday, said Nigeria is in dire need of an impartial electoral umpire to right the wrongs in the nation’s electoral system.
He said this at the Dr. Osahon Enabulele Foundation launch and colloquium.
Speaking on the topic: “Election management and the leadership recruitment process: The way forward” in Benin City, he said Nigeria cannot get its electoral processes right when those saddled with the responsibility to man the process are grossly soaked in partisan politics.
Iredia, lead presenter at the launch of the colloquium, said a single faulty electoral process can ruin the chance of the supposed winner of an election even before the main election proper.
As a way out of the electoral quagmire, he said all general elections should be held on the same day.
“These scattered elections are not helpful. We have seen that they are not helpful. It is time to depart from analogue, obsolete elections. If Ghana, Kenya, South Africa can do it, why can’t Nigeria do the same?
“It is time to find a situation where before somebody is sworn-in, election disputes have been settled. If you don’t do that, you are asking the person who won to use the state money to prosecute his election petition,” Iredia said.
The Keynote speaker, Prof. Eghosa Osaghae, director general, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), who spoke on the topic: “Nigeria and the leadership question: Unlocking the potential for a better tomorrow” said leadership problems are not peculiar to Nigeria alone but universal.
He said the solutions to the nation’s problem reside within Nigerians and they must not look elsewhere rather should look inwards and address them.
Founder of the foundation, Dr. Osahon Enabulele, said undoubtedly, most Nigerians have been plunged into a miasma of hopelessness and unfathomable depths of disillusionment, such that the first question an average Nigerian wants to ask when confronted with some life situations is “Why am I still in Nigeria? Why don’t I japa? But can everyone japa?”
He said really and truly, Nigeria has descended to a pitiable and worrisome situation where everyone is now virtually struggling for survival and for very basic things of life.
Enabulele, therefore, said to address and reverse the above global, regional, national, and subnational challenges, requires not a lamentation or sycophantic choir but conscious commitment to progressive reforms by empowered citizens, and altruistic votaries of progressive social
On the foundation, he said he intends to pursue its vision through the empowerment of citizens, particularly vulnerable groups, by promoting initiatives for leadership excellence and good governance, as well as human capital development, including mentorship, access to quality healthcare and education, fostering of community development through targeted programmes, and empowerment of young people to rise above their limitations and achieve their dreams.