Chat212 Mail Summary....
- Professor Attahiru Jega, yesterday, asked Nigerians not to expect next year’s general elections to be perfect.
- He spoke when the United States Ambassador to Nigeria Mr. James Enwhistle paid him a courtesy visit at the INEC’s headquarters in Abuja.
- According to Jega, the commission had taken steps to ensure credible polls.
Chat212 Mail News... Report
Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, yesterday, asked Nigerians not to expect next year’s general elections to be perfect.
He said that the time- table for the election would be released this week.
He spoke when the United States Ambassador to Nigeria Mr. James Enwhistle paid him a courtesy visit at the INEC’s headquarters in Abuja.
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“We are not promising a perfect election in 2015, but we are confident that we will do our best,” he said, but added that the conduct of the election would be better than than the 2011 polls.
He further stated that the commission would embark on a retreat this week during which the commissioners would prepare: time-table for the 2015 polls; budget for the continuous voter registration to be conducted later this year and address other issues that are relevant to the forth-coming polls.
According to Jega, the commission had taken steps to ensure credible polls.
He cited improved staff training and re-organisation as some of the steps taken by INEC to ensure that the 2015 elections were free and fair.
Said he:”We have also embarked on strategic planning and improved our relationship with our development partners.
“It is our responsibility under the Electoral Act to do voter education and even political education generally. But it has always been challenging because the resources available to discharge that responsibility are usually insufficient, given the enormity of the task of dealing with a large illiterate population and getting them really understand what to do, not only during voting but also on the larger issues of choosing good candidates and so on. So there is a lot of things the CSOs can do.”
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