COMMUNIQUE ISSUED AT THE 13TH NATIONAL DELEGATES’ CONFERENCE OF FORUM OF STATE INDEPENDENT ELECTORAL COMMISSIONS OF NIGERIA (FOSIEICON) IN JOS NIGERIA.

Preamble

The Forum of State Independent Electoral Commissions of Nigeria (FOSIECON) is an umbrella body of the 36 State Electoral Management Bodies saddled with the responsibility of organizing and conducting elections into the position of Chairmen and Councillors in the 768 Local Government Councils across the Country.

The need to step up the mode of organizing credible elections for the purpose of good governance at the grassroots level informed the desire for the 2025 Jos Conference.Thus, the Conference aimed at assembling the major stakeholders in the administration of the LG Polls in Nigeria in order to brainstorm on the core mandates of SIECs and review same for optimal performance. To achieve this aim therefore, the NDC sort to:

i. re-affirm the importance of delineation of electoral responsibilities between the two electoral bodies in Nigeria in line with the tenets and principles of federalism and the role of SIECs in grassroots democracy

ii. x-ray challenges to the administration of grassroots elections amidst plurality of SIECs legal frameworks;

iiii. promote the discovery and application of knowledge, the acquisition of skills, and the development of operational policy guidelines for credible LG Polls in Nigeria

iv. harp on the necessity of electoral reforms both at the National and State Legislative levels respectively for SIECs autonomy in order to strengthen their operations to deliver on their constitutional mandates.

The Conference Delegates comprised the Chairmen, Members and Secretaries of State Independent Electoral Commission from each state of the Federation. Twenty-seven (27) states were in attendance. The Conference was declared open thy His Excellency, the Governor of Plateau State, Hon ( Barr) Caleb Manasseh Musftwang.

Goodwill messages were delivered by the representatives of invited special guests of honour which include His Excellency Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule, the Executive Governor of Nasarawa State and some other notable invited guests; Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI), United States Institute of Peace (USIP), Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) and Inter-party Advisory Council (IPAC).

The theme of the Conference was “Local Government Elections in Nigeria; Issues, Challenges and Opportunities”, keynote speech by Prof Samuel Egwu (INEC REC, Benue State). A number of papers were presented at the Conference, including;

(1) State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) Independence: Panacea for Credible LG Polls – Assoc. Prof Mohammed B. Babanumma

(2) Election Management Bodies (EMBs), Electoral Process and the Law – Prof. Alphonsus Okoh Alubo SAN.

(3) The Role of SIECs in Grassroots Democracy – Barr Cynthia Mbamalu, YIAGA AFRICA.

(4) Voters’ Education, Civic Competence and participatory Democracy in Nigeria – Mr Martins Oloja, Guardian Newspaper

 

RECOMMENDATIONS:

After three days of Indepth discourse by delegates, the Forum made the following recommendations as panacea for building public confidence in SIEC to conduct transparent and credible Local Government Polls in Nigeria, a precursor to grassroots democracy:

Administrative independence and financial autonomy of the SIECs should be prioritized as an impetus of strengthening SIECs to deliver on their constitutional mandates

Regular public engagements with the Election stakeholders should be embarked upon across the 768 local government areas to build confidence in the capacity of SIECs to organize and conduct credible and transparent Local Government Polls

Political parties as the only platform for filing nomination of candidates for election should evolve mechanism for emergence of leadership of proven integrity while the electorate should always review the activities and performance of their representatives for the purpose of accountability

Extension of legal and institutional reforms that strengthened INEC’s operation to SIECs for optimal performance

State Legisture should take pragmatic steps to adopt the relevant provisions of Electoral Act 2022 on procedure of conduct of Area Councils Elections to evolve uniformity and certainty in the electoral procedure of Local Government elections

SIECs should intensify efforts in collaborating with CSOs and development partners to provide capacity building that will enhance voters’ education and civic competence of the grassroots electorate because ‘All Politics is Local’.

 

 

CONCLUSION

The National Delegates’ Conference concluded that in line with the tenets of federalism, SIEC have come to stay and any call for its scrapping is mischievous and anti-Federal Constitution of Nigeria. In addition, notwithstanding the current challenges, SIECs are poised to serve the grassroots electorate as a viable and virile platform for democratic leadership recruitment at the Local Government level.