2023 Elections: INEC Begins Implementation Of Recommendations From Stakeholders

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced the initiation of actions based on recommendations provided by stakeholders following the 2023 general elections.

Naijaonpoint reports that the INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed the development during the inaugural visit of the new European Union Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Gautier Mignot, to the commission in Abuja on Tuesday.

He indicated that INEC has begun revising its planning frameworks, including the Strategic Plan and the Election Project Plan, in preparation for upcoming elections.

Yakubu mentioned that since the conclusion of the 2023 general elections, the commission has received feedback from numerous national and international groups, totalling 206, that were accredited to observe the elections.

He highlighted that stakeholders, including the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU-EOM), provided a total of 23 recommendations, with eight specifically requiring action from the commission.

Furthermore, Yakubu pointed out that 15 of the recommendations necessitate responses from the executive branch, the judiciary, the legislature, and other stakeholders, including civil society organizations, the media, faith-based groups, and political parties.

“The eight specific recommendations for INEC relate to the dissemination of the commission’s regulations and guidelines for elections, training of election duty staff, and deployment of electoral technology.

“Other areas include the result management process, continuous registration of voters, cleaning up of the voters’ register, participation of marginalised groups in the electoral process, and voting by internally displaced persons, IDPs.

“On our part, the commission undertook an extensive internal and external review of the 2023 general elections, involving the participation of our own officials and stakeholders across the board.

“We produced a 524-page main report and a 74-page review report containing 142 recommendations. The two reports have already been uploaded to our website,” the INEC boss said.

The INEC chairman added that the commission had also commenced the implementation of aspects of the recommendations that required only administrative action.

“For instance, in some of the off-cycle, re-run, and bye-elections conducted since the general elections, there has been an improvement in the quality of training for ad hoc staff, including the deployment of more BVAS machines for this purpose,” he said.

The INEC boss further highlighted the tremendous improvement in the functionality of BVAS machines for voter accreditation, using fingerprint or facial authentication.