Issues as INEC prepares ahead of 2019 -Fidelis Mac-Leva

 

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) played host to key stakeholders in the electoral process at a workshop in Kaduna to review the commission’s existing communication policy ahead of the 2019 general elections.

Presided over by the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the two-day workshop was attended by all national commissioners, Resident Electoral Commissioners, directors, administrative secretaries, heads of voter education and publicity department from all the states and other directing staff of the commission, as well as communication experts from both the public and organized private sectors.

Underscoring the importance of reviewing the commission’s communication policy ahead of the 2019 general elections, Professor Yakubu said: “While the current policy has served the commission, it is obvious that a review is necessary as we prepare for the 2019 general election.”

He stressed that periodic reviews of policies in the light of new developments were normal for any organization, adding that in the case of the current policy, such a review was significant in order to achieve four objectives.

Yakubu listed the objectives to include: a comprehensive review of the policy to determine what worked and what needs to be fine-tuned in the light of the experience we have gathered in implementing the current policy since inception in 2015; the need to examine the extent to which the policy has enabled the commission to effectively communicate with the public; determine the extent to which the policy has facilitated a more robust internal communication within the commission and appraise the effectiveness of a sustained stakeholder engagement between the commission and relevant stakeholders.

“This workshop will also look at ways by which our communication policy should enhance sustained engagement with stakeholders in the electoral and political process. In more specific terms, the commission needs to create greater avenues and channels for engaging with political parties, civil society organizations, the media, relevant government ministries, departments and agencies as well as international development partners,” Yakubu said.

In 2011, the Ford Foundation gave a grant to INEC, a part of which was dedicated to conducting information and needs assessment (INA) of the commission and formulating a media and communication policy.

Consequently the commission in April 2011 approved a proposal to convene a seven member workshop of information and communication experts to undertake the tasks specified by the grantor.

The workshop which comprised media experts including broadcast media doyen and pioneer director general of the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation,  Dr. Tom Adaba, eminent scholar from the University of Lagos, Prof. Raph Akinfeleye and veteran journalist and now national commissioner at INEC, Mallam Mohammed Haruna, among others, produced a draft communication policy that was eventually approved in 2013.

According to the policy document, the purpose of the policy was to ensure that communication across the commission were well coordinated, effectively managed and responsive to the diverse information needs of the public.

The 2013 communication policy also enumerated various goals and highlighted measures to be adopted to achieve them. It identified 18 key stakeholder groups that the Commission would need to communicate with in a strategic manner, including the media, voters, political parties, civil society groups/professional associations, development partners, the presidency, government ministries, department and agencies, national assembly and the judiciary.

But many analysts believe that the provisions of the 2013 communication policy were never applied as prescribed in the document.

Perhaps, it is with this in mind and given a proviso that the communication policy should be subjected to regular and periodic reviews, that INEC decided to undertake the current review.

Setting the tone of the workshop’s purpose and expectations, Rotimi Oyekanmi, chief press secretary to the INEC chairman, said:  “It is four years already, and so, it is now time for stock-taking. How well, in the real sense, have we achieved the goals contained in the policy?  We need to ask ourselves, where exactly are we in terms of implementation? If, for instance, we are to rate ourselves in percentage terms, what will our score really be?  Or is there anything wrong with the policy that we need to correct? Are there certain unique aspects that were not captured in the formulation that might have affected our collective ability to implement it in full?”  

Five persons who were in the original team that produced the 2013 document were present at the Kaduna workshop to give their own assessment. They include Prof. Okechukwu Ibeanu, a National Commissioner; Prof Mohammed Kuna, Special Adviser to the Hon. Chairman; Mr. Kayode Idowu, the immediate past Chief Press Secretary and Ms. Ibiba DonPedro, an outstanding journalist and entrepreneur. Eminent scholar, Professor Raph Akinfeleye was also there to make a presentation.

In his presentation titled ‘Contemporary appraisal of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s communication policy document: way forward and possible options’, Professor Akinfeleye said INEC was still weak in both internal and external communication networks.

“Within the internal communication network, evidence abound that the pattern of communication is still left-footed. That is to say it is based more on vertical pattern instead of the horizontal pattern of communication,” Akinfeleye posited, adding that with the emergence of the social media, INEC’s internal and external communication systems should be patterned on the horizontal-vertical pattern communication system for free, fair and credible elections.

Maintaining that an ideal INEC communication policy should address before, during and after elections Nigeria’s cultural particularities as well as cultural peculiarities, Akinfeleye said: “I have observed with dismay the lack of systematic approach in the draft INEC communication policy analysis; this is premised on the fact that no society has a holistic and integrated communication policy; instead what obtains are pieces of regulations, laws and guidelines on both the print, the electronic and now the new media.”

Akinfeleye also said the damages suffered during the 2015 elections should compel INEC to come out with appropriate sanction for political parties and/or agents engaging in hate speech at political rallies/campaigns and town hall meetings.

In his presentation, a former chief press secretary to INEC chairman, Kayode Robert Idowu, noted that the provisions of the 2013 communication policy were never applied as prescribed in the document.

According to Idowu, the greatest challenge to implementing the 2013 communication policy was that many staff of INEC did not even bother to read the document, much less think about applying its provisions as it related to them.

“So a starting point is to have relevant officials of the commission internalize and own the policy document, and then commit to implementing its provisions,” he said.

 The former chief press secretary said with the approach of the 2019 elections and some state governorship elections as well as constituency bye-elections, “INEC needs to consolidate public trust in its operations through enhanced transparency and coherence of its messages and policy measures.”

From the foregoing, participants at the two-day workshop on the review of INEC communication policy in Kaduna resolved on the need for the commission to partner with relevant agencies as well as professional bodies in order to guard against any reoccurrence of the culture of hate speech and incitements that characterized the 2015 general elections, especially in the build up to the 2019 general elections.

In a communiqué signed by an INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Prince Solomon Soyebi, participants also emphasized that the delivery of messages should take into account the socio-cultural, religious and linguistic diversity, as well as the population mix and peculiarities of our political environment and electoral system.

“The Commission will also partner with other regulatory agencies and professional bodies to ensure compliance with agreed code of conduct and statutes, especially with regards to incidences of incitement and hate speech.

“Taking into cognizance all extant statutes and provisions, the revised policy should develop, manage and sustain innovative and proactive communication capacity to promote internal cohesion, public trust common vision and values.

“Arising from evolving operational environment and current internal and external developments, the revised policy should be based on effective, efficient, precise, honest and prompt dissemination and flow of information on the decisions, policies, activities, constraints and challenges of the Commission.”

Daily Trust