The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has appealed to the United Nations (UN) to provide support in capacity-building for its staff and voter-education ahead of the 2019 general elections.
Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, made the call during the commission’s meeting with UN’s Needs Assessment Mission (NAM) delegation on Monday in Abuja.
Yakubu said that the commission would need the support to build capacity of its staff and political parties, and in voter education and general sensitisation.
Other areas of needs for the elections, according to him, are electoral legal framework, electoral conflict, mitigation and inclusiveness, particularly of women, youths and People Living with Disabilities (PLWDs).
Yakubu commended the UN for its support to INEC and other election management bodies in Africa, through its agencies, including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
“Over the years, the UN has been providing critical support to INEC in our efforts to introduce and sustain reforms of the electoral system in Nigeria.
“The UN agencies such as the UNDP have been of immense assistance to the commission, especially in building our capacity and extending the same support to our numerous stakeholders as well,’’ Yakubu said.
He said that the commission looked forward to working together with the UN for the consolidation and deepening of democracy in Nigeria.
The INEC chairman said that the commission had continued to maintain and expand engagements with stakeholders in the electoral process, especially as it prepared for the elections.
He added that over the last two electoral cycles, 2010 to 2015 and 2015 to 2019, the commission had deliberately and purposefully embarked on far-reaching reforms of the electoral system.
On his part, leader of the UN delegation, Mr Serge Kubwimana, said that they were at INEC to know the preparation of the commission for the elections and to know areas the UN could assist it.
“The objective of the visit is to work together to see the context in which the commission has been prepared, and together identify areas where the commission may deem fit to have the UN collaboration as seen in the past,’’ he said.
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