The Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) decision to engage the services of university lecturers for election duties has been described as another example of how a public institution can transfer trust.
A lecturer with the University of Nigeria Nsukka, UNN, Dr Nkwachukwu Orji, defended INEC in an exclusive interview with a TNC correspondent in Awka, Anambra State Capital, during an election stakeholders’ meeting.
Following flaws observed in recent elections conducted across the country and the alleged roles played by the returning officers and university lecturers, the INEC has come under fire for the initiative.
Some quarters have attributed the fraud that has consistently pervaded the nation’s electoral system to the greed of some lecturers, some of whom eventually benefitted from politicians who allegedly rigged elections in their favor.
But Orji, a former Anambra Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, said the initiative by INEC is an example of how a public institution can transfer trust and that there is nothing wrong with it.
He said the strategy has worked well for the Nigerian Electoral System.
He, however, noted that there may be challenges as no system is foolproof.
Orji said the INEC has the principal role of ensuring that the system works, especially in ensuring that only persons with proven integrity for the job emerge from the search process.
The former REC, however, stated that the initiative must be carried out so that only persons with integrity are hired for such jobs. At the same time, those with questionable character are blacklisted.
“There is no way all the lecturers in Nigeria will be corrupt.
“So, it is actually about paying attention to a search process that will throw up people of integrity and then have a system that blacklists those that have been involved in that kind of infractions in the past, such that they are not empowered to continue to do the ills they have done in the past,” he advised.
The scholar stressed the need for the key stakeholders in the electoral system to become active in making the system work.
He also harped on the need for a post-election review of the efforts of the various players in the electoral process to improve the system.
“The Civil Society, the media and other interest groups must after every election, ask the right questions about the activities of not just the INEC, but also, the security agencies in charge of election security, the political parties that throw up persons of questionable character, and the personnel on election duty.
“That way, we would have a process that continually goes through a process of reforms and soon, we would arrive where we want,” he suggested.
