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RERC Report to the Processes REPORT OF THE REGISTRATION AND ELECTION REVIEW COMMITTEE (RERC) FOREWORD REPORT OF THE REGISTRATION AND ELECTION REVIEW COMMITTEE (RERC) ith the conclusion of the General Elections in April 2011, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) successfully Copyright © INEC Wcompleted the two central assignments it set for itself at inception in July 2010 namely, compilation of a new Register of Voters and conduct of the 2011 General Elections. Although the two exercises have been widely adjudged to be successful, the Commission could not have overlooked the many challenges that All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored confronted it in conducting the registration and elections. Consequently, in line in a retrieval system, or translated into any language or computer language, in any form or by any with its standing promise to Nigerians to continually improve the electoral process, means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, chemical, photocopying, recording, manual or otherwise, the Commission decided to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of both the without the prior permission of the copyright owner. registration of voters and the general elections. In doing this, the Commission established a three-pronged process. First, there were internal reviews designed to enable INEC staff evaluate their own performance critically. Consequently, there First published 2012 were review meetings involving Electoral Officers, Administrative Secretaries and Resident Electoral Commissioners. Second, there were review meetings with major stakeholders. This was designed to enable stakeholders and INEC to jointly critique the work of the Commission during the registration and election. Among Cover Design: Terfa Herman the stakeholders were civil society organizations, political parties, the media and the Interagency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES). Finally, the Commission sought to have an independent body to review the registration and Designed & Printed in Nigeria by: elections, drawing from its own direct investigations and the two preceding EDDY ASAE NIG. PRESS 0802 325 1446, 0806 018 2441 reviews. This gave rise to the establishment of the Registration and Elections Review Committee (RERC). The Commission considered the type of independent audit conducted by the RERC as central to the continuous “lesson-learning” activities of the Commission. In order to make the evaluation productive, transparent and acceptable to the public, the RERC was not an internal “self-assessment” by the Commission. Instead, it involved knowledgeable persons from outside the Commission, who are seasoned experts in election administration fully understand the electoral process in Nigeria. The overall goals of this comprehensive evaluation conducted by the RERC are as follows: l To evaluate the registration exercise and general elections with a view to understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the Commission in the planning, coordination and execution of the projects. l To, through this evaluation, embark on the process of repositioning the Commission to operate more efficiently by preparing to meet some of these challenges as its gradually moves towards the next Electoral Cycle. iii l To, through these, assist in creating a world standard Electoral Management 2. Assist the Commission to establish improved and more efficient business Body in which basic electoral best practices will be routine, and in which processes responsive to the current and future needs of the Commission; effective staff and organizational capacities will be developed to meet the and challenges of an Electoral Management Body in a country such as Nigeria. 3. Enable the Commission to acquire a standing, in-house, capacity for project More specifically, the Commission charged the RERC to: management, including the management of technical and human resources. l Appraise all the operational processes for the voter registration and The RERC consisted of a Chairman and seven members, who are persons of proven elections, including planning, organization, coordination and evaluation of integrity, requisite experience in electoral administration and research, as well as activities, focusing particularly on such specific issues as logistics, expertise in public policy. The membership of the Committee was as follows: procurement and delivery of materials, deployment of personnel, etc. 1. Professor Adele Jinadu Professor of Political Science and former member of l Reassess the legal framework for the conduct of elections with a view to the National Electoral Commission (NEC) Chairperson addressing some of the key legal challenges that had arisen in the course of 2. Professor Festus Iyayi Professor of Business Administration Member both the registration and elections; 3. Mr. Clement Nwankwo Human Rights Lawyer and Head of the Civil Society Election Situation Room during the elections Member l Examine the role, performance and especially the overall administrative 4. Hajiya Saudatu Mahdi Women's Rights Activist and Executive Director, procedures and channels within and between Departments in the WRAPA Member. coordination and execution of the registration and elections; 5. Dr. Nasiru M. Yauri Senior Lecturer and Head, Department of Accounting at the University of Sokoto (UDUS) Member. l Review the processes of party primaries and nomination of candidates 6. Professor Abdulhamid Ujo Professor of Political Science and member of the during the 2011 elections and INEC monitoring of those processes. Justice Uwais Election Reform Committee Member 7. Professor Anthonia Taiye Simbine Research Professor, NISER, Ibadan l Comprehensively assess the entire process of recruitment, training, Member deployment, performance and remuneration of Ad-hoc staff during the 8. Hajiya Bilkisu Yusuf Journalist and human rights activist Member. registration of voters and elections; The Committee elaborated its own methodology, which included requesting the l Audit the Commission's cooperation and relations with other bodies such as submission of position papers from staff of INEC and stakeholders, conducting oral MDAs, NGOs, security agencies and development partners during the interviews, reviewing of documents, undertaking visits to INEC facilities, as well as registration and elections; and receiving commissioned papers from experts/consultants. l Identify and address any other outstanding issues in the registration and/or I am very pleased that the contents of this Report bear out the confidence that the elections that are likely to impact on the conduct of the 2015 General Commission had in the members of the RERC. Indeed, the Report has added great Elections. value to the work of the Commission as it forges ahead with repositioning the Commission to become one of the best election management bodies in Africa. This Clearly, this is a comprehensive and open mandate to ensure that all aspects of the Report will be a great companion and reference point for the Commission in its work of INEC during the registration of voters and general election were evaluated work for a long time to come. by the Committee. It is clear that the RERC was given a freehand and nothing was either ruled out or ruled in. This foreword will not be complete without expressing the sincere gratitude of the Commission to the Chairman and members of the RERC, who in spite of their tight In establishing the RERC, the Commission expected a number of outcomes, which I personal schedules accepted this call to national duty. I must also thank in a special must say the Committee delivered successfully, namely a comprehensive report way the Democratic Governance and Development Programme (DGD) for their that will: support to the work of the Commission. In particular, I wish to thank the partners who contribute to the funds of the Programme the European Union, DFID, UNDP, 1. Feed into subsequent preparations for 2015 elections and restructuring of CIDA and KOICA. I also wish to thank specifically Ms. Titi Pitso of the DGD and the Commission; Professor Sam Egwu of the Governance Programme of the UNDP for their untiring iv v support to the RERC. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) has remained a dependable partner to the Commission. IFES provided technical support to the RERC by making available one of its consultants, George Carmona, to work with the Committee. The Open Society Initiative for West Africa and Open Society Justice Initiative also provided technical support to the Committee. I wish to TABLE OF CONTENTS thank in particular Jude Udo Ilo, Peter Ocheikwu and Chidi Odinkalu for this. I must also thank the staff of INEC, at both the headquarters and States, for their Forward iii openness and readiness to provide information to the RERC. This demonstrates a Table of Contents vii commitment to improvement in our work and to accept constructive criticisms. My Statement of RERC Chairman viii special appreciation goes to all the stakeholders who spoke to the Committee while Appreciation x on field visits to the six geopolitical zones of the country. Your participation is an List of Abbreviations xii indication of the broad commitment to democratic principles and support to the Preface xiv Commission. Chapter One Introduction 1 The secretariat of the RERC did a marvelous job in producing this report. The Committee Secretary, Mr. John Odah and his team Iduh Onah, Princess Hamman- Chapter Two Executive Summary 7 Obels, Musa Shalangwa and Funmilayo Oluwole
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