Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), says the commission has made 142 recommendations to improve future electoral processes.

Mr Yakubu said this on Monday in Lagos at the opening of a two-day induction retreat for resident electoral commissioners (RECs).

He said the commission had published the report on the review of the 2023 elections and that it was already available on its website.

“But there is also the outcome of the retreats and engagements with stakeholders, which is now being published.

“I can tell you that the commission has made 142 recommendations on the improvement of the electoral process in Nigeria,” said Mr Yakubu.

The INEC chairman said the electoral umpire would inform the public on the reform when the report is concluded.

“The reforms are categorised; the majority are for implementation by administrative action by INEC, but some are to be implemented by security agencies.

“We have those that require an amendment to the electoral legal frameworks by the National Assembly. Some are to be implemented by political parties and other stakeholders,” Mr Yakubu said.

Stating that the FCT Area Council elections would also be due in 2026, Mr Yakubu said there was no respite for the commission again.

On Edo, the chairman noted that the flood disaster recently affected over 4,000 Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) machines at the commission’s office, but no fewer than 3500 machines have been recovered.

The INEC chairman said the machines would not be enough for the election and that the commission would call for additional support from neighbouring states.

On the retreat, the INEC chairman said it was not just about the induction of new appointees but an opportunity to review performance, reappraise processes, discuss innovations, and engage service providers.

He said that it was also an opportunity to interface with lawmakers on critical areas of reform and explore new frontiers “in our continuous effort to improve organisational capacity for better service delivery.”

Mr Yakubu said INEC will conduct four major elections before 2027, listing them as the Anambra, Ekiti, and Osun governorship elections.

“Since elections are governed by law, we also plan to intensify our engagement with the National Assembly for activities that require legal reform,” he said.

The chairman charged the new RECs to be focused on how to acquaint themselves more with the processes and procedures of the commission.

He urged the existing RECs to leverage their privileged field experience to mitigate recurring challenges in pre-election and post-election litigation and operational issues.

(NAN)