UN pledges support for INEC on capacity building

The United Nations (UN) has pledged to support the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to build technology capacity to improve the conduct of elections in the country.

UN Secretary General, Antonio Guteres, said this in Abuja when he paid a courtesy visit to INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, and stressed the need for the commission to embrace technology, which has been accepted globally as a means of conduct of free and fair elections.

Speaking through the Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel, Mohammed IBN Chambers, the UN scribe acknowledged and appreciated INEC’s efforts to improve elections in the country, saying its current leadership should was a model for the West African sub-region.

He commended INEC for announcing election dates for the 2019 general elections, as well as the number of registered voters in the ongoing Voters Registration Exercise CVR.

He noted that the inclusion of the internally displaced persons in the country could not be over emphasised.Ekiti and Osun governorship elections coming up next year, he noted, would be another trial for INEC, given that their outcomes would be a reflection of the 2019 general elections.

Responding, Yakubu assured the UN visiting team of the commission’s commitment to sustaining democracy in the country and the West African region.He pledged the election monitoring body’s resolve to partner with a regional body, ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions (ECONEC) to improving on elections.