The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it would soon present to the Nigeria public, the report on the conduct of the 2023 general election.
Also, to be made public, is the report of the review committee that studied and analysed the conduct of the elections.
INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, at an induction retreat for new Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in Lagos on Monday, stated that the retreat was not just about induction of new appointees, but “an opportunity to review performance, reappraise processes, discuss innovations, engage service providers, interface with lawmakers on critical areas of reform and explore new frontiers in our continuous effort to improve organisational capacity for better service delivery.”
Prof. Yakubu who reminded the RECs that elections are all year round, in addition to numerous electoral activities such as voter registration, noted that the retreat was held against the background of forthcoming governorship elections in Edo State and Ondo governorship elections, as well as five pending bye-elections for Babura/Garki Federal Constituency of Jigawa State and four State constituencies in Rivers, Kano, Kaduna and Adamawa States.
“These outstanding bye-elections bring the total of such elections to 14 since the inauguration of the national and state assemblies in June last year,” he added.
The INEC Chairman disclosed that the commission would hold four major elections before the next general election in 2027.
“The Anambra State governorship election next year will be followed in 2026 by the Ekiti and Osun State governorship elections and, I must remind you in case you forget, the Area Council elections in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“Therefore, as we think, reflect and innovate for credible elections, we are also instantly implementing the reforms and innovations that we can introduce by administrative action,” he stated.
He urged both the new and old RECs, to acquaint themselves with the processes and procedures of the commission, and at the same time, leverage on their field experience to contribute to how to mitigate recurring challenges in the areas of pre-election and post-election litigations, as well as operational issues.
“In a well-organised retreat such as this one, there is always something new to learn,” Prof. Yakubu stated and told them to always bear in mind that the cardinal objective is improved service delivery.
According to him, the format for the retreat has been slightly modified, adding that instead of the general presentations by all departments and directorates at the headquarters, the commission limited the departmental presentations, and at the same time, provided for discussions at the end of each presentation.
The induction retreat was for 10 newly appointed RECs, nine of them were sworn in in December last year, and one in January this year.