Chairman of the Independent
National Electoral Commission,
INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega,
yesterday said the possibility
of the commission completing
constituency delineation was
very remote as a result of
inadequate legislation and
controversy over census figures.
Jega made the disclosure
at the National Broadcasting
Commission, NBC and INEC
forum on Broadcast Media
Coverage of 2015 election held
in Abuja yesterday.
He said that the setback
would however not disrupt
preparations for the 2015
elections.
“As for constituency
delineation, for several reasons
we are not sure we can finish in
good time before 2015. As you
know, the reviewing electoral
constituencies must get the
joint resolution of the National
Assembly before it is done. But
based on the signals we are
getting, nobody is in the mood
for that.
“Beyond that, our own work
was delayed over the issues that
arose last year over whether the
census figures were authentic or
not. We will continue with the
work but we may not be able to
do a thorough job” Jega added.
On funding, Jega noted that
50 percent of monies allocated
to INEC are spent on personnel
and staff, adding that all such
expenses are verifiable because
the account of the commission is
open for investigation.
In his own contributions,
the Minister of Information,
Labaran Maku, lampooned
states’ electoral commissions
saying almost all of them have
failed to conduct free, fair and
credible local government
elections.
He however promised “in
2015, we expect that elections
will be more peaceful than
those in the past.”
Maku lamented that some
politicians behave as if they are
going to war during elections
and observed that in spite of the
antics of desperate politicians,
electoral reforms embarked
upon by the government has
reduced elections litigations in
the country by 50 percent since
2007.
Maku, who further declared
that the media in Nigeria
is the freest in the world,
however cautioned the media
to reinforce their gate keeping
function by not reporting hate
or divisive statements.
He however reiterated
the call for the regulation
of social media platforms,
advocating that social media
operators should be brought
to a round table conference
on how to moderate their
messages which he described
as “harmful and abusive”.