Critical stakeholders in the electoral process on Tuesday held a roundtable on re-examining the role of stakeholders in rebuilding trust in the electoral processes and institutions

Executive Director, International Press Center (IPC) Mr. Lanre Arogundade said observations of election national and international observers in the 2023 general elections revealed that election stakeholders still have much work to do individually and collectively to rebuild trust in the electoral system.

Some Stakeholders at the Parley

He spoke at a one – day Media/CSOs Roundtable on ‘Re-examining The Role of Critical stakeholders in Rebuilding Trust in The Electoral Processes and Institutions’ which held in Abuja. “Therefore as we approach two off-cycle governorship elections in Edo and Ondo States this year 2024 and in view of the next general elections in 2027, this activity is deemed necessary to aid the process of developing strategic interventions that can contribute towards regaining public trust while promoting the delivery of free, fair, peaceful and credible elections in the country”, he stressed .

The Media/CSOs roundtable along with other previous initiatives, he said are being implemented by IPC within Component 4 (Support to media) of the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria-Phase 2 (EUSDGN II) project.

Specifically, he said the overarching framework of the project which began in 2022 was to strengthen the role of the media in promoting democratic governance through Fair, Accurate, Ethical and Inclusive Coverage of Electoral Processes & Elections in Nigeria.

He noted that the 2023 general elections came with unexpected challenges although it accomplished significant milestones particularly in the use of technology for voting via BVAS.

He said: “The challenges led to extensive observations both from national and international observers which partly reflected waning public confidence and trust in the electoral process. Along this line the European Union, Election Observation Mission (EU-EOM) report on the elections made 23 recommendations for improvement.

“Additionally, IPC’s media monitoring activity of 20 print/online media and INEC social media over the past one year has also revealed some elements of negative perception by some citizens about the electoral processes and outcomes while there are those who hold that things were not as bad as portrayed”, he said.

Executive Director, Centre for Media and Society, Dr. Akin Akingbolu in his goodwill message observed that participants at the roundtable are critical stakeholders who have put their hands on the plough and cannot look back in having stronger institutions and would put in more because new problems will emerge while solving old ones.

Dr. Akingbolu who commended the IPC for organising the roundtable said he strongly believe that good fruits would be harvested after the programme.

In his opening remarks, Programme Chairman, Prof. Okechukwu Ibeanu an Election Administration Expert and Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI) lamented that it is not often appreciated how important trust is stressing that question of trust is important in all activities including elections.

He said the level of trust in the ballot and the choices made is the most important thing. Prof. Ibeanu further identified three trust dimensions to include: extent to which people believe that ballot has promissory value, the content value of the ballot and the psychological value of the ballot.

The former electoral chief identified five things to know about trust in electoral process to include: one, in a society where there is general deficit of trust, lack of trust will rub – off on institutions,two, what other agencies do or failed to do is as important to what electoral body does in an election,three,in a society where there is lack of confidence, every election comes with lower level of trust in the electoral process,four, trust deficit is not the most critical but when it drops below a threshold, it becomes critical and five, that attempt to de – personalise by introducing technology to re – build trust may be a fleeting thing.

In his lead presentation entitled :” Re examining the role of critical stakeholders in rebuilding trust in the electoral process and institutions, Mr. Jide Ojo, a Development Consultant and Public Affairs Analyst who defined trust in election and stakeholders, identified 10 election stakeholders.

Describing Nigeria’s 2023 general elections as “polls with a difference” Mr. Ojo said CSO and the Media should be tasked in rebuilding trust in INEC.

He lamented that almost a year after the conduct of the last general election,INEC is yet to make public information about arrests, investigations and prosecution of its staff that were alleged to be involved in compromising the integrity of the election.

Mr. Ojo said National Assembly should protect the interests of voters through certainty of law for all states.

In her contribution, Mrs Mary Nkem, Director, Voter Education and Publicity, (INEC) said the Commission operates an open – door policy stressing that stakeholders are carried along in policy decisions.
Mrs. Nkem who said the Commission does not have power to arrest and investigate, disclosed that the electoral body received 19 case files , three of which have been successfully concluded.

Speaking on the 3 February bye elections, Mrs Nkem said INEC is fully prepared stressing that the electoral body had a meeting on Monday with security agencies and Resident Electoral Commissioners.