Nigeria’s national electoral body INEC has been charged to conduct a detailed and systematic post-election review which includes an inquiry into the cancelled ballots and for a thorough audit of the voter register, intending to boost voter confidence ahead of future polls.

INEC has also been urged to imbibe a culture of proactive disclosure of election information such as details of election results, voter registration data, PVC collection rates, election guidelines among others.

These are some of the recommendations contained in the 2019 General Elections Observation Report of YIAGA Africa Watching the Vote.

Galaxy’s Godfrey Eshiemoghie was at the Public Presentation of the Report and has the rest of the story.

The outcome of Nigeria’s National and State elections has remained a burning issue on the front burners of public discourse.

And for Civil Society Organizations like YIAGA Africa which played a key part during the keenly contested general elections held in February and March this year, INEC has performed poorly in its conduct of the exercise.

The damning report on INEC’s performance in the conduct of the polls seems a widely held view, but INEC insists this may not be a true representation of the fact as Civil Society Organizations often overlook the key actors, that is, the political parties.

On this, YIAGA Africa insists the political parties, by their activities, limit the options of the civil society organizations.

The report on the 2019 general elections also includes a recommendation that INEC reviews its policy of deploying academics such as corps members as collation and returning officers due to integrity and accountability issues.