The Abuja School of Social and Political Thought (TAS) and organised labour have unveiled a National Action Plan on Electoral Reform (NASAER), with a call for overhaul of Nigeria’s electoral system.
Executive Director of TAS, Dr Sam Amadi, who presented the initiative in Abuja, said that NASAER outlined a comprehensive strategy to strengthen Nigeria’s electoral process, ensuring transparency, fairness and inclusivity.
Amadi described NASAER as an initiative by the TAS, the Political Committees of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC). Other partners are Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) and the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC). Amadi said that the reform is aimed at guaranteeing credible, free and fair general elections in 2027 and beyond.
He added that the initiative further demonstrates the commitment of the organisations to electoral justice and deepening of democracy in Nigeria through electoral integrity. According to him, the initiative is not just on the reform of electoral laws, but on a holistic election management system.
“This will ensure that different agencies and actors in the electoral management ecosystem, particularly the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), can effectively and fairly execute the obligations vested on them by law,’’ he said. Amadi said that experiences of the 2023 general election and other offseason elections showed the sources of threats to free and fair elections.
He said that recommendations were made to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and judiciary on electoral adjudication to engender integrity and transparency. His words: “The experience showed that without reforming the institutional settings and procedures for electoral management, we cannot have a guarantee for credible and trustworthy elections.
“The TAS and its partners consider that the problems of electoral integrity in Nigeria require a more radical approach and proposed series of strategic actions,” he said.
“The actions must focus on ensuring a new procedure and institutional reforms in electoral management and engendering an electoral jurisprudence that promotes electoral justice. “By providing strong incentives for electoral managers and electoral adjudicators, that will protect the rights of the people to elect their leaders.”
Amadi said that they also sought legislative reforms on the Electoral Act to expand the appointment clause for the chairman of INEC and other members of the commission.
According to him, the existing order whereby the president appoints the commission’s chairman and members with the Senate confirmation should change.
“The Uwais Committee report recommended that the appointment of the INEC commissioners should be similar to the appointment of judges and that it should be based on a competitive process with a body similar to the National Judicial Council (NJC), put in place.
“In this case, the President merely makes a routine appointment from the list submitted to him, while another body will review such appointments,’’ he said.
