.The chairman of the In-dependent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega has said that the deployment of armed security during an election does not discourage people from participating in electoral process.
He said instead, the presence of security helps to drive people’s confidence to participate in the process.
He stated this while delivering a speech as a special guest of honour at the 2014 Annual General Meeting of the Newspaper Proprietors of Nigeria, NPAN in Lagos.
Citing Ekiti State election as an example, Jega said despite the presence of heavy security in the state during the election, it recorded unprecedented voter turnout of 49 percent, which is the highest in the electoral history of Nigeria.
He said: “I want to state that the use of military is not necessarily a disincentive for participation in an election. In fact, Ekiti election that we had and people were complaining of the highest level of military mobilisation, had 49 per cent voter turn-out, which is the highest in all the elections we have ever had in this country. This means that the presence of security gave people the courage to come out and vote.”
He further explained that, “it is possible to have credible elections without heavy presence of armed security. That is the ideal situation and that is what we want to see. But it depends on context, the kind of security challenges that a country has. That is what determines what role the armed forces can play in an electoral process. In Nigeria for instance, the way we define the role of the security is that at the polling units, there will be an average of three unarmed policemen, then outside of the polling units, about a radius of 300 metres, we can have patrols by mobile police and check-points by mobile police.
“And then the army conducts what is called outer peripheral cordon, which is at the point of entering the state or the major entries of the main cities in the state.”
Giving an insight into the commission’s role in deepening democracy in the country, Jega said the country is faced with several challenges which revolve around challenges with good governance, adding that having credible electoral process had become an imperative to address these challenges.
Efforts
“We know that our electoral process has been very bad and we allowed things to go bad for so long and now it will require lots of serious and consistent efforts to be able to address these challenges. Nigeria faces tremendous challenges but foremost among these challenges is that of good democratic governance.
“It’s no longer an issue of good governance because there are authoritarian regime that can provide goods and services and institutions and so on, but if the opportunities are not provided for people to express themselves and participate in the process and contribute in the shaping and design of policies, then obviously that will be good governance, but not democratic governance.
“Our country has suffered for long under the authoritarian rule of the military regime and even though in the last 18 years, we have been struggling and transitioning to democracy, there is still much to do and the legacies of authoritarian rule which has been embedded into the body polity and the governance process are still there and there are still formidable challenges that we have to deal with.
“The key challenge then, is to keep on the transition process and there is no doubt that if we must build a credible democracy, then we must also reform our electoral process. This is because the electoral process is a medium in a democratic context for the choice of leaders and for ensuring that the selection of leadership is targeted at bringing about good democratic governance, such that the resources and potentials of the country can be put to good use for the benefit of the country and the citizens,” he said.
On the role of the media as a major stakeholder in the electoral process, Jega while commending the newspaper proprietors for the indispensable roles they have been playing, especially in enlightening voters, enjoined them to always try to balance their private interest as a business with that of the public good.
He disclosed that the Commission is working with United Nations Development Project, UNDP, to develop a code for election reporting by the media.
He said: “Your investment may be private investment, but they also have tremendous public utility and it is, therefore, very important that proprietors of newspapers and other media, must balance the private interest with the public good.
“There are trends and tendencies that can threaten your efforts at upholding this public good, but it is a collective responsibility on you as an association to curtail such tendencies so that the pursuit of private interest will not becloud public good.”
Earlier in a welcome address, the President of NPAN and publisher of Thisday Newspapers, Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, noted that the state of the media in the last few years has been challenging but still filled with unexplored opportunities as indicated by emergence of new news media every day.
He also said the association is conducting several studies that will enhance newspapers’ adaptability to the rapidly changing news environment heavily influenced by technology.
He said that the association under his leadership was instrumental to the signing of the Freedom of Information Act into law, but noted that it is still confronted with the challenge of ensuring that the Act is implemented to the benefit of media practitioners in driving access to information.
According to him: “The state of the media in the last two years has been challenging but still filled with opportunities. Once we came into office, the first achievement was the signing into law of the Freedom of Information Act. For many, however, it remains an act on paper. And the challenge in the next few years is to ensure that the act is given life and that we are able to obtain information from official sources when we need them.”
He also condemned the recent action of the military that confiscated copies of newspaper publications and therefore, called for the cessation of such actions or other actions that will impede media practitioners from carrying out their lawful duties.
Seizure
“In the last few months, we have witnessed unprovoked seizure of our newspapers by military officials seeking Boko Haram bombs. We have engaged at the highest level and we will continue to engage but in the event that the engagement does not yield the right result, we will disengage,” he said.
“We have also been challenged by a few actions across all tiers of government. Photo-journalists and reporters have been bruatlised by security officials. For instance, journalists from the Leadership newspapers are still under trial. And we hereby ask for the immediate cessation of any action by anybody against any journalist in Nigeria in the spirit of the FOI Act and the constitutional democracy that we practise,” he added.
Obaigbena also used the occasion to set up a committee to be headed by Editor in Chief/General Manager, Publications of Vanguard newspapers, Mr. Gbenga Adefaye to collaborate with INEC in developing the code of election reporting.
The meeting was attended by many dignitaries including publisher of Vanguard newspapers, Mr. Sam Amuka, who is a life patron of the association, Mallam Ismaila Isa, a former president NPAN, Mr. Sam Nda Isaiah, publisher of Leadership newspapers, Mr. Frank Aigbogun, publisher of BusinessDay newspapers and Maiden Ibru, the publisher of The Guardian Newspapers.
Others include the publisher of Telegraph and the Sun newspapers and former Governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu; former governor of Ogun State, Chief Segun Osoba; former president and Ex-Officio of NPAN, Mr. Ray Ekpu; Chairman, Nigerian Guild of Editors, Mr. Femi Adesina; Managing Director of Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe; President, Advertising Association of Nigeria, Kola Oyeyemi, and President of Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria, Kelechi Nwosu.
He said instead, the presence of security helps to drive people’s confidence to participate in the process.
He stated this while delivering a speech as a special guest of honour at the 2014 Annual General Meeting of the Newspaper Proprietors of Nigeria, NPAN in Lagos.
Citing Ekiti State election as an example, Jega said despite the presence of heavy security in the state during the election, it recorded unprecedented voter turnout of 49 percent, which is the highest in the electoral history of Nigeria.
He said: “I want to state that the use of military is not necessarily a disincentive for participation in an election. In fact, Ekiti election that we had and people were complaining of the highest level of military mobilisation, had 49 per cent voter turn-out, which is the highest in all the elections we have ever had in this country. This means that the presence of security gave people the courage to come out and vote.”
He further explained that, “it is possible to have credible elections without heavy presence of armed security. That is the ideal situation and that is what we want to see. But it depends on context, the kind of security challenges that a country has. That is what determines what role the armed forces can play in an electoral process. In Nigeria for instance, the way we define the role of the security is that at the polling units, there will be an average of three unarmed policemen, then outside of the polling units, about a radius of 300 metres, we can have patrols by mobile police and check-points by mobile police.
“And then the army conducts what is called outer peripheral cordon, which is at the point of entering the state or the major entries of the main cities in the state.”
Giving an insight into the commission’s role in deepening democracy in the country, Jega said the country is faced with several challenges which revolve around challenges with good governance, adding that having credible electoral process had become an imperative to address these challenges.
Efforts
“We know that our electoral process has been very bad and we allowed things to go bad for so long and now it will require lots of serious and consistent efforts to be able to address these challenges. Nigeria faces tremendous challenges but foremost among these challenges is that of good democratic governance.
“It’s no longer an issue of good governance because there are authoritarian regime that can provide goods and services and institutions and so on, but if the opportunities are not provided for people to express themselves and participate in the process and contribute in the shaping and design of policies, then obviously that will be good governance, but not democratic governance.
“Our country has suffered for long under the authoritarian rule of the military regime and even though in the last 18 years, we have been struggling and transitioning to democracy, there is still much to do and the legacies of authoritarian rule which has been embedded into the body polity and the governance process are still there and there are still formidable challenges that we have to deal with.
“The key challenge then, is to keep on the transition process and there is no doubt that if we must build a credible democracy, then we must also reform our electoral process. This is because the electoral process is a medium in a democratic context for the choice of leaders and for ensuring that the selection of leadership is targeted at bringing about good democratic governance, such that the resources and potentials of the country can be put to good use for the benefit of the country and the citizens,” he said.
On the role of the media as a major stakeholder in the electoral process, Jega while commending the newspaper proprietors for the indispensable roles they have been playing, especially in enlightening voters, enjoined them to always try to balance their private interest as a business with that of the public good.
He disclosed that the Commission is working with United Nations Development Project, UNDP, to develop a code for election reporting by the media.
He said: “Your investment may be private investment, but they also have tremendous public utility and it is, therefore, very important that proprietors of newspapers and other media, must balance the private interest with the public good.
“There are trends and tendencies that can threaten your efforts at upholding this public good, but it is a collective responsibility on you as an association to curtail such tendencies so that the pursuit of private interest will not becloud public good.”
Earlier in a welcome address, the President of NPAN and publisher of Thisday Newspapers, Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, noted that the state of the media in the last few years has been challenging but still filled with unexplored opportunities as indicated by emergence of new news media every day.
He also said the association is conducting several studies that will enhance newspapers’ adaptability to the rapidly changing news environment heavily influenced by technology.
He said that the association under his leadership was instrumental to the signing of the Freedom of Information Act into law, but noted that it is still confronted with the challenge of ensuring that the Act is implemented to the benefit of media practitioners in driving access to information.
According to him: “The state of the media in the last two years has been challenging but still filled with opportunities. Once we came into office, the first achievement was the signing into law of the Freedom of Information Act. For many, however, it remains an act on paper. And the challenge in the next few years is to ensure that the act is given life and that we are able to obtain information from official sources when we need them.”
He also condemned the recent action of the military that confiscated copies of newspaper publications and therefore, called for the cessation of such actions or other actions that will impede media practitioners from carrying out their lawful duties.
Seizure
“In the last few months, we have witnessed unprovoked seizure of our newspapers by military officials seeking Boko Haram bombs. We have engaged at the highest level and we will continue to engage but in the event that the engagement does not yield the right result, we will disengage,” he said.
“We have also been challenged by a few actions across all tiers of government. Photo-journalists and reporters have been bruatlised by security officials. For instance, journalists from the Leadership newspapers are still under trial. And we hereby ask for the immediate cessation of any action by anybody against any journalist in Nigeria in the spirit of the FOI Act and the constitutional democracy that we practise,” he added.
Obaigbena also used the occasion to set up a committee to be headed by Editor in Chief/General Manager, Publications of Vanguard newspapers, Mr. Gbenga Adefaye to collaborate with INEC in developing the code of election reporting.
The meeting was attended by many dignitaries including publisher of Vanguard newspapers, Mr. Sam Amuka, who is a life patron of the association, Mallam Ismaila Isa, a former president NPAN, Mr. Sam Nda Isaiah, publisher of Leadership newspapers, Mr. Frank Aigbogun, publisher of BusinessDay newspapers and Maiden Ibru, the publisher of The Guardian Newspapers.
Others include the publisher of Telegraph and the Sun newspapers and former Governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu; former governor of Ogun State, Chief Segun Osoba; former president and Ex-Officio of NPAN, Mr. Ray Ekpu; Chairman, Nigerian Guild of Editors, Mr. Femi Adesina; Managing Director of Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe; President, Advertising Association of Nigeria, Kola Oyeyemi, and President of Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria, Kelechi Nwosu.
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