Nigeria’s elections credibility attributed to use of multimedia

Nigeria’s elections credibility attributed to use of multimedia
Qasim Akinreti, Abuja

The effective use of multimedia platforms greatly enhanced the credibility of Nigeria’s April 2011 general elections.

Participants at a one-day post-election conference under the auspices of reclaim naija project, initiated by a non-governmental organisation -Community Life project- stated this in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

In a communiqué, participants drawn from representatives of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, security agencies, National Youth Service Commission, donor agencies, Civil Society Organisations and other stakeholders said the large scale use of different types of media –both traditional and new media (radio, television, drama, jingles, bulk short messages service, sms, newspapers) helped a lot in bringing credibility to the electoral process. In particular, social media helped during the elections to expose irregularities and bring about quick intervention.

Other indices of success

It was also observed that the setting up of situation rooms by INEC enabled it to monitor what was happening on the field and communicate with security agencies for intervention.

According to the survey on security during the April, 2011 elections,   there was a high level of performance especially in the areas of punctuality (59.3 %); deployment (74%); approachability (91%); impartiality (86.3%); perception of safety and security (84.6%) and overall conduct of security agencies (80%).

The success of the elections was also attributed to the use of and patriotism of youth corps members under the NYSC scheme which helped to reduce rigging and other fraudulent malpractices.

The participants also acknowledged the national electoral body’s systematic training of staff; the establishment of the Inter-Agency Co-ordinating Committee on election security; comprehensive planning; citizen/CSO participation and social media.

In all, the open and instant declaration of results enhanced confidence and credibility of the   electoral process.

Challenges

However, the participants noted challenges within the internal processes of INEC particularly the deployment of electoral materials and proactive response to Information Communication Technology, ICT which were draw backs during the elections.

Recommendations

The participants recommended that there is the need to review the legal framework for electronic accreditation and voting in 2015.

They equally advised that Nigerians should remain resilient and committed to promoting electoral transparency and accountable governance, ‘as eternal vigilance is the price of liberty’.

For the National Assembly and INEC, it was agreed that they should ensure early delineation of constituency and polling units ahead of the 2015 elections.

Political parties were reminded   and mandated to ensure internal party democracy especially in the nomination of candidates for elections. They should as well embark on voters’ education.

The donor agencies were urged to be more systematic in planning for the funding of election work with openness and transparency.  On funding, it was recommended that this should be given to civil society organizations on time in preparation for the 2015 elections and the programme design should give flexibility for local peculiarities.

 The post election conference was organized to provide space for civil society organizations (CSOs), Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Security agencies, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), donors and other stakeholders to exchange ideas and share experiences on the successes and challenges of the 2011 elections.

In addition, the conference was organized to help set the agenda for proactively improving the electoral process and CSOs’ engagement and interventions towards 2015.

Ekata