2023: How we plan to surmount challenges – INEC

As concern mounts over the lingering insecurity across the country, epileptic power supply, general infrastructure deficit and logistics problems as the 2023 general election approaches, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured Nigerians that it was on top of its game and that there was no cause for alarm.

Although the Commission is not in denial of these obstacles, it has firmly expressed its determination to tackle them headlong.

Festus Okoye, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of Voter Education Committee, said: “The 2023 general election will come with challenges and the Commission is determined to surmount these challenges and conduct free, fair, credible and inclusive election.

“Growing insecurity in several parts of the country and the increasing number of IDPs will pose the biggest challenge to the conduct of the 2023 general election. So many of the IDPs are in the houses of friends and relatives and have lost their PVCs and it is next to impossibility to recreate their polling units.”

Okoye assured that the Commission was doing its best to address all the challenges ahead of the election, including technology, logistics and people living with disabilities.

For the operational challenges of technology, Okoye said: “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 not travel backwards but will continue to improve on its technological base and innovations. The Commission will continue to work with security agencies to protect our equipment and personnel.

“With the BVAS (Bimodal Voter Accreditation System) and the uploading of polling unit level results, violence has left the Collation Centres and reverted back to the polling units. 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.”

Giving assurance on logistics, he said: “The Commission is designing a new template on the issue of logistics. The Commission will engage the various transport unions and the security agencies on the issue of movement of personnel and materials to the various centers on Election Day.

The Commission is determined to reverse the challenge of logistics and open the polls on time to enable Nigerians have a good voting experience.”

To address the security challenges, the INEC Spokesperson said: “The Commission is addressing these issues under the auspices of the Inter Agency Consultative Committee on election security. The Commission is also addressing the huge issue of transporting a large cache of security personnel on Election Day.

“Visually impaired and incapacitated Voters; the Commission has through its Gender and Inclusivity Desk been relating to the various associations of persons with disability to collect data for purposes of deploying assistive materials appropriately and strategically to the polling units.”

On the infrastructural deficit, he said that INEC deploys generators to its Registration Area Centres; deploys GP tanks, buckets, mats and toiletries to these places because of infrastructural deficit.

“Some of the schools and public places used as polling units and Registration Area Collation Centres are in a very terrible state. The Commission will supply a comprehensive list of these schools and public places to the Local and State Governments for remedial action,” he said.

Rotimi Oyekanmi, chief press secretary to INEC chairman, who spoke with Sunday BusinessDay, said that the Commission has never relied on electricity generated by the various discos to conduct a general election.

According to him, “There is always a provision for alternatives, just in case. One alternative is a generating set. Another is a power bank.”

He also explained that at the polling unit level, electricity may not be needed during the voting period from 8.30am to 2.30pm since the devices to be used for voter accreditation/authentication would have been fully charged, backed up by power banks.

“But at the collation level, generating sets may be needed and there will be provision for this,” he said.

Despite the assurances, doubt persists

Despite the assurances of the Commission, there is growing apprehension among stakeholders on INEC’s preparedness for the conduct of a free and fair poll next year.

They fear that multifaceted challenges which Nigeria is currently entangled in such as epileptic power supply and high level of insecurity could pose serious threat to INEC efficiency and cripple the commission’s efforts to deliver a credible poll if urgent steps are not taken.

In recent decades, the commission has come under increased scrutiny and criticism over its handling of elections in the country. Apart from low turnout, elections across Nigeria have been plagued by violence, manipulation of results and inducement of eligible voters.

For instance, in its report on the conduct of the 2019 general election in Nigeria, the European Union observer team specifically described the elections as marred by severe operational and transparency shortcomings. The group bemoaned the inability of INEC to release results on time due to logistic challenges.

Similarly, the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room equally expressed disappointment at what it described as poor showing by INEC and the various security agencies during the 2019 general elections.

The group said that despite expectations that the 2019 presidential poll would be better organised after the initial postponement, the exercise was marred by serious lapses on the part of the electoral umpire and security agents.

“Situation Room is, however, disappointed by the serious lapses observed with the conduct of the presidential and National Assembly elections held on Saturday 23 February 2019.

“Despite the elections being conducted against a background of an earlier postponement on February 16, 2019, on grounds of logistics challenges, it still suffered from major logistic lapses.

Additionally, the election was marred by violence, security lapses and instances of overreach. Other challenges include compromised INEC officials as well as partisan security operatives,” Clement Nwankwo, executive director, Policy & Legal Advocacy Centre and Convener, Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, had said.

In its review of the conduct of 2021 gubernatorial election in Anambra, election observer group, Yiaga Africa, lamented that the election was marred by delays in the deployment of materials to polling units and general logistic challenge, and called for concerted efforts to avoid a repeat of such lapses in future election.

Although observers have expressed mixed reactions to the situation, some are of the view that these are not new threats to the effectiveness of INEC in conducting free, fair and credible elections.

But pundits say that in most cases the challenges are man-created, stating that the elite in collaboration with some elements in the electoral body always want to subvert and circumvent the process, to ensure these challenges remain.

“These issues are man-made sometimes to sabotage the system. All that is important presently is for the leadership of the electoral body to fashion put ways and strategies to prevent the effect of these challenges on their entire responsibilities and the electoral process.

“The fact is that, it is sad that at this level of our democratic experience, issues of power outage, logistics and insecurity continue to hinder the efficiency of INEC. It is a shame to the Nigeria political elite,” Kunle Okunola, political analyst, said.

Meanwhile, INEC has in the past expressed its readiness to conduct a free and fair poll next year.

David Sentonji, Lagos State lawmaker who is the chairman of the House Committee on Information, said though the commission may have shortcomings in past elections, he was optimistic that it would improve with the new Electoral Act. He expressed confidence that the Commission would overcome electricity and security challenges plaguing the country during next year’s general election.

According to him, “I know we had these issues in the past, but despite that INEC has not done badly, look at the Anambra election. I think with the amendment of the Electoral Act INEC would be stronger to perform well and conduct a credible election next year. I have that optimism in me.”

Speaking recently, INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu said that the Commission was committed to raising the bar of the standard set in previous elections. He said the commission had last June begun the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) in which millions of eligible voters have been registered nationwide.

Read also: 2023: INEC lists multiple registration, increased IDPs as challenges

‘It’s difficult to go to bed on INEC’s promises’

Painting a scenario of how huge these challenges are and how they can mar the success of the election if not tackled now, Chijioke Umelahi, a lawyer and former Abia State lawmaker, said: “If political thugs or government-sponsored security personnel prevail on the electorates, the polling booths will be empty, if there is peace and the electorates are ready to vote, but the machines are down, voting will be disrupted, and if the voting materials fail to reach the voting booths on time or even hijacked by thugs, the election will not hold.”

Speaking further, Umelahi, who is aspiring to contest for the House of Representative ticket in his Ohafia/Arochukwu Federal Constituency, noted that the INEC really has huge challenges to surmount in order to deliver on the 2023 election.

“The INEC always complains of paucity of funds even when double of what was used in conducting the last election is approved. No matter how prepared the INEC claims to be, the umpire always falters and the 2023 election will not be different,” he disclosed.

‘Many Nigerians are usually disenfranchised on location issues’

For Sam Onikoyi, a Nigerian Diaspora and researcher based in Belgium, if you take the unimaginable rate of insecurity in the country, the INEC already has enough reason not to deliver on the 2023 general election.

“I read about many people congratulating President Buhari for giving his ascent to the Amended Electoral Bill, which is now signed into law, but that will not work when many people will stay at home on the Election Day because of the fear of being intimidated, injured or killed for trying to exercise their civic duty. The government should by a matter of urgency address insecurity to ensure safe election in 2023; we cannot be talking about elections when bandits, kidnappers, and Boko Haram are planning otherwise,” he alarmed.

Henry Ibiwari-Tombo, a politician and former local government chairman in Bayelsa State, lamented that logistic has always been the major challenge in conducting successful elections in the riverine areas across the country and that the INEC has not been able to address that despite over two decades of conducting elections across the country.

“From local government chairmanship, gubernatorial, senatorial to the presidential elections, most people in the riverine areas do not vote because of the lapses by the INEC at ensuring electoral materials are available and on time. It is also regrettably that the INEC is funded well to ensure logistics needs are met, at every general election such lapses repeat, and sadly disenfranchise many from voting,” the seafarer-turned politician lamented.

Apart from riverine areas, places with difficult terrains such as winding hills, challenging topography and inaccessible roads also hardly vote on Election Day because voting materials hardly get to them that day. The likes of Plateau, Taraba, Adamawa, Cross River states are affected, while states with high presence of bandits and Boko Haram are a risk for INEC staff and even electorates.

“I did my compulsory NYSC in Mambila in Taraba State, the winding roads; Plateau and long distance travel are challenges to accessing the town even on election day. INEC staff and materials cannot get there before election day because of security and compromise of the process,” Merry Itam, a broadcast journalist, said.

‘INEC must be proactive’

But on the power outage, Umelahi noted that the situation will not change considering the poor investment in the power sector and heavy control by the Federal Government.

“The outage of March 14, 2022 is the first time and will not be the last. The grid collapsed in February, May, July and August 2021. So, INEC should not use power outage as an excuse, it should look for alternatives because the government has always funded the elections well,” Umelahi disclosed.