The visit of the USA Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Stuart Symington gave rise to a discussion over making upcoming elections even more successful than it was in 2015.
Mr. Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission promised to keep to the pledge he took in the presence of Mr. Stuart Symington. He said that the commission is responsible for making the process smooth. In other words, INEC needs to put more efforts to guarantee better elections.
After the official promise, Mr. Yakubu thanked for recognition they got in 2015 by the government of the USA. According to Naij Nigeria, this is what he was said: “The elections were well-thought out and they were internationally accepted compared to a rebellious past with protests on the streets. In 2015, and the elections passed well as there were no incidents of law breaking. The National Electoral Commission achieved a good result as well as the whole country did on its way to democracy.”
The praise of 2015 set the bar high for INEC to hold the elections 2019 at the highest level. Mr. Yakubu mentioned that well-planned steps result in successful elections. This is what they are busy with now. Apart from it, the commission is about to implement “2017-2021 Strategic Plan”.
The Chairman stated that the first point on the agenda is a voter registration. They are cleaning it up in order to arrange the list in 774 local authorities. Another point is the use of technologies that significantly improves the overall system. In addition, he enumerated specific dates as far as the elections 2019 are concerned.
Mahmood Yakubu gladly adopts the knowledge the USA Embassy shares with Nigeria. Their partnership helps to make the electoral process reliable and safe.