By Fisayo Ogunsakin with agency reports
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has implemented all administrative recommendations made by the ECOWAS Election Observation Mission (EOM) following the 2023 general elections.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this in Abuja during a meeting with a post-election follow-up and needs assessment mission from the ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions (ECONEC).
The ECONEC mission, led by the Chairperson of Liberia’s National Elections Commission, Mrs Davidetta Browne-Lansanah, visited Nigeria to assess the implementation level of the ECOWAS EOM report.
Yakubu explained that 13 of the 37 recommendations made by the ECOWAS mission were directed at INEC, while the remaining 24 were for other institutions including the National Assembly, Nigeria Police Force, political parties, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Civil Society Organisations, the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC).
“Of the 13 observations specifically addressed to INEC, the commission has considered all the recommendations that require administrative action to implement,” Yakubu said.
He added that INEC was awaiting the National Assembly’s legal review on recommendations requiring legislative intervention.
Yakubu also stated that INEC had prepared detailed responses on each of the 13 observations, many of which were already reflected in the commission’s 142 electoral reform proposals, developed through consultations with stakeholders. These, he said, are available on the INEC website alongside the 2023 general elections report and other related documents.
He commended ECOWAS for its partnership with ECONEC in deploying follow-up missions to member countries, noting that elections require multi-stakeholder collaboration.
“Nigeria has participated in many of these missions. In April this year, I was involved in a similar mission 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,” Yakubu added.
In her remarks, Browne-Lansanah described the visit as a peer-to-peer review to assess how INEC had addressed challenges and implemented the ECOWAS recommendations following the 2023 elections.
“We see this mission as a lesson learned, not just for INEC Nigeria but also for our institutions, election management bodies,” she said.
She noted that the experiences and challenges faced by election bodies were often similar and that learning from each other was essential to improving electoral processes across the region.
Browne-Lansanah also appreciated Nigeria’s support to Liberia’s NEC, particularly in setting up an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) room, facilitated through ECONEC and INEC.
“More importantly, INEC has supported through material sharing with the National Elections Commission in Liberia. Because of your intervention, we now have an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) room basically supported by your efforts,” she said.
The ECONEC delegation included the Deputy Chairman of Ghana’s Electoral Commission, Dr Bossman Asare, ECONEC’s acting Permanent Secretary, Mr Serigne Ka, and representatives from international partners including the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA), the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IIDEA), and the German Development Agency (GIZ).
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