Imperative Of Implementing Uwais Report On INEC Reform

In its recently released report, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) contends that the sum approved for it to conduct the 2023 General Election was insufficient.

The electoral body argues that out of the N355.2 billion approved and appropriated for the conduct of the 2023 General Election, only the sum of N313.4 billion was released as of September 2023. According to the Commission, initially, the National Assembly approved and appropriated the sum of N303.1 billion for the conduct of the 2023 General Election.

However, due to spiralling inflation as well as the widening differentials in the foreign exchange rate in the country by January 2023, it was clear that the approved amount would not be enough for the conduct of the General Election. Consequently, the Commission was compelled to request for supplementary appropriation in the sum of N52 billion from the presidency.

The request was duly considered and approved for appropriation by the National Assembly, bringing the total funds approved and appropriated to the Commission for the conduct of the 2023 General Election to N355.2 billion.

With the benefit of hindsight, the conduct of the 2023 General Election was far from satisfactory and rarely a good time for the umpire to complain about funding. The truth is that the 2023 General Election was sufficiently funded.

In fact, INEC got a 62 per cent increase in funds over what was spent in the conduct of the 2019 General Election. The reason for this increase was not only to improve the electoral process but also to make the system more credible through the introduction of new technologies such as the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Result Viewing (IREV) portal.

These technologies were expected to provide foolproof authentication of voters and near-real-time uploading of results to the point where electorates would have been able to do their own computation and calculation of votes even before the official declaration of results at the INEC collation centre in Abuja.

The BVAS is a technological device used to identify and accredit voters’ fingerprints and facial recognition before voting, while the IREV is an online portal where polling unit-level results are uploaded directly from the polling unit, transmitted, and published for the public.

It is alarming that despite the increase in its funding, INEC still believes it could do with more. Yet, many Nigerians are not satisfied with its performance, especially on electronic uploading and release of election results. The commission certainly can do better in conducting free and fair elections, even though Nigerians are difficult to assuage; and they are very litigious.

The commission should be worried that many of its decisions on the 2023 elections were overturned by the courts, signposting that the courts are doing more than INEC to enthrone governors and state and federal legislators. Eight governors have so far been so enthroned by the courts. Though not perfect, the Electoral Act provides INEC with a framework with which it can credibly conduct a credible election. However, INEC still remains impotent.

Instead of more money, therefore, there is a need for INEC to undergo fundamental reforms to make it a more credible election umpire. The late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, on August 28, 2007, instituted a 22-member Electoral Review Committee, headed by former Chief Justice Muhammadu Uwais, to critically examine the electoral process in the country and advise on areas that require reforms. Unfortunately, since the committee submitted its report in 2007, it has yet to be implemented.

Sadly, successive governments in the country have failed to heed the calls to implement the report. It is believed that if the Uwais Report is implemented, it will reduce the overbearing powers of the executive arm over other arms of government in the conduct of elections in Nigeria.

Among others, the Uwais Committee had recommended that if Nigeria intends to conduct a credible election, it must set up a truly neutral and independent electoral commission imbued with administrative and financial autonomy.

The Committee believes that Nigeria needs an electoral process that would enable the conduct of elections to meet acceptable international standards, legal processes that would ensure that election disputes are concluded before the inauguration of newly elected officials, and mechanisms to reduce post-election tensions, including the possibility of introducing the concept of proportional representation in the constitution of government.

To this effect, the Committee stated that the INEC chairman and members of the electoral body cannot be appointed by the President because such an appointment deprives the INEC chairman and members of the electoral body of the autonomy and independence necessary to function as impartial umpires in the electoral process.

According to the committee: “The classification of the commission as a federal executive body in section 153 of the 1999 Constitution also brings it under the oversight of the executive arm of government, just as its funding through the same executive renders it vulnerable to manipulation and undue influence by that organ.

Also, the absence of effective democratic oversight of the commission, for example by parliamentary committees, is another factor.” The Committee therefore recommended that: “In terms of qualifications, the chairman, deputy chairman, and members of INEC should be persons of integrity, non-partisan, possess vast professional, administrative or academic experience, be not less than 50 years of age for chairman and deputy and not less than 40 years for the others; and the chairman and deputy chairman should not be of the same gender.

The Committee recommends that the composition of the membership of INEC should be reviewed periodically to ensure that the chairman, deputy chairman, and other members of INEC are non-partisan and have not been registered members of any political party during the preceding five years.

It recommends that section 153 of the 1999 Constitution, which classifies INEC as a federal executive body, should be amended, while the funding of INEC shall be a first-line charge on the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation rather than the Presidency and National Assembly. In short, the committee wants Nigeria to adopt all the standards set by reputable global agencies.

President Bola Tinubu-led government should endeavour to implement the report. For an electoral process to be perceived as fair and credible, the body responsible for conducting the elections must be seen as independent and free from political interference.

The funding of INEC directly from the federal government should stop. Such a manner of funding could compromise the independence of the electoral body. He who pays the piper dictates its tune. If INEC relies heavily on federal funding, it can hardly be an unbiased umpire in the electoral process. Public perception is fundamental in an electoral process. If INEC is continually funded by the federal government, the perception of bias in favour of the ruling party will persist, thus eroding the trust in INEC and the legitimacy of election outcomes.