CLO Rivers says Commission failing in voter education despite huge budget
By Sandra Kenneth
The Rivers State Chairman of the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO), Sunny Dada, has criticized the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for abdicating its responsibilities to politicians and civil society organizations.
Sunny Dada, in an interview with Exceed Media correspondent, accused INEC of failing to properly educate citizens on the electoral process despite receiving substantial budgetary allocations specifically for voter education.
“Even though INEC gets a huge chunk of money as part of the election budget for voter education, INEC doesn’t seem to do so much,” Dada alleged.
He expressed concern that politicians have now taken over voter education — a move he called a conflict of interest. “The politicians have taken it upon themselves to educate voters because they know that, at the end of the day, they will end up as the greatest beneficiaries. So, if you mobilize enough people to register, at the end of the day, the hope is that these people will vote for you,” he added.
CSOs Struggling with Funding
Dada noted that CSOs have also stepped into INEC’s shoes, but are battling acute donor funding challenges. “CSOs have also taken that responsibility from INEC. The challenge CSOs are having right now is acute donor funding. You know donor funding is drying up; before now, you’ll have a lot of donors coming in, spreading money around to CSOs, and you will see CSOs doing a lot of activities.”
With funding dwindling, he said the ball now goes back to INEC. “Citizens themselves should self-organize and educate others on the collection and registration process, rather than just being online,” he emphasized.
Call to Unbundle INEC
Dada maintained that the remedy to Nigeria’s electoral problems is the unbundling of INEC, arguing the commission is “too bloated” to effectively manage elections. “I have been privileged to monitor elections in three countries, and their electoral bodies do not operate like INEC. For instance, INEC has no business getting involved in transport logistics. That is why when a single vehicle breaks down, it frustrates the entire process in the specific unit it was assigned to.”
