We Implemented ECOWAS Recommendations On 2023 Polls – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has implemented the recommendations of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on the 2023 general election, which required its administrative actions.

INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, diclosed this yesterday during a meeting with the ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions (ECONEC) Post-Election Follow-Up and Needs Assessment Mission at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.

Yakubu said ECOWAS had deployed both a long-term and short-term Election Observation Mission (EOM) for Nigeria’s 2023 General Election. The mission made 37 recommendations for consideration by seven critical institutions and stakeholders in the electoral process.

He said that while INEC has acted on the recommendations within its powers, the commission is waiting for the conclusion of the National Assembly’s ongoing legal review on aspects of the recommendations that require legislative intervention.

He stated that; “of these recommendations, 13 are addressed to INEC while 24 require action by other institutions and stakeholders such as the National Assembly, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), civil society organisations, the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and political parties under the auspices of their umbrella body, the Nigeria Inter-Party Advisory Council (PAC).

“Of the 13 observations specifically addressed to INEC, the commission has considered all the recommendations that require administrative action to implement, while waiting for the conclusion of the ongoing legal review by the National Assembly on aspects of the recommendations that require legislative intervention.

“The commission has prepared a detailed response on each of the 13 observations, most of which are already contained in our 142 recommendations for electoral reform, which resulted from wide-ranging consultations with critical institutions and stakeholders.”

Yakubu commended ECOWAS for its partnership with ECONEC in deploying follow-up missions to member countries, which are always led by a chairperson of an electoral commission, saying Nigeria has participated in many of these missions.

“In April this year, just three months ago, I was involved in a mission similar to the Republic of Gambia, together with my colleague from Sierra Leone and some of the election experts present today.

“Today, it is our turn to host our colleagues from Liberia and Ghana, leading a team of international election experts. In this sense, today’s mission is a routine practice but very critical to electoral democracy in our region,” he said.

In her remarks, Davidetta Browne-Lansanah, head of the Post-Election Mission to Nigeria and Chairperson of the National Elections Commission (NEC) of Liberia, said they were in the country to see how best INEC has implemented ECOWAS recommendations on the 2023 polls.

Browne-Lansanah said the mission would also seek to know the reasons for some of the issues that came out of the 2023 election and how INEC navigated in a way that it has found answers to those challenges that abound during the polls.

“We see this mission as a lesson learned, not just for INEC Nigeria, but also for our own institutions, our own election management bodies, because as we know, problems or challenges that are faced by any election management body are often faced by election management bodies throughout our region.

“The fact that we can sit down and talk about what we went through and how it impacted our work during elections, I think we may be able to use those recommendations again to better situate our individual election management bodies when we return to our various countries.

“So let me say on behalf of the team that we are happy to be here and we are happy for your warm welcome all the time. But let me go further to say that Liberia, the National Elections Commission, appreciates you in particular for your stance in ensuring that we do a good job as we have done here in Nigeria.

“…We want to learn what happened, so we use your expertise in dealing with the problems and challenges to better situate our individual election management bodies and processes. Thank you to all of you, and we wish to have better, sustainable election management bodies throughout West Africa and the world,” she added.