Forum of State Independent Electoral Commissions of Nigeria, FOSIECON, has stated that the panacea for better performance of State Independent Electoral Commissions, SIECs, is not in scrapping them, rather in amendment to the provisions of the 1999 constitution of Nigeria to guarantee the autonomy of the commissions.
FOSIECON made this known in a communiqué issued recently by the forum at the end of
its four-day 9th National Delegates Conference held in Katsina, Katsina State.
The communiqué, which was signed by the chairman of the forum who is also the chairman of the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission, Hon. Justice Afolabi Abdul-Fatai Adeyinka (rtd) and the forum’s secretary, Dr. (Mrs) Hannatu Usman Biniya, also disclosed the readiness of the forum to engage the services of a public relations consultant who would be saddled with the responsibility of positively projecting the image of the body.
The forum also called on her members to endeavour to undertake the delineation of wards in their various states to improve on the turnout of eligible voters during election.
Similarly, the forum stressed the need to place the funding of SIECs on the first line charge as it is with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to make SIECs more independent and effective.
Members of the forum also resolved to make the delegates conference an annual event which would be known as Annual National Delegates Conference.