BY CHIKA OKEKE, Abuja
A Development Consultant, Mr Jide Ojo has lamented the escalating identity theft on social media, adding that over zealous citizen journalists clone people's account and post without the consent of the account holder.
He stated this on Tuesday in Abuja at a one-day Media/Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) roundtable, organised by International Press Centre (IPC) Lagos, under the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria-Phase 2 (EUSDGN II) project.
The theme of the event, "Re-examining the Role of Critical Stakeholders in Rebuilding Trust in the Electoral Processes & Institutions", was designed to enhance the credibility of INEC and improve the electoral processes by providing accurate information to the public.
Ojo said that election is the best way to recruit political leaders and it is also a prime factor in a democracy, noting that conducting election is the responsibility of the 37 electoral management bodies in Nigeria.
He stated that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is empowered by the constitution to organise, undertake and supervise all elections to the offices of the President and Vice President, governor and deputy governor of a State, Senate, House of Representatives, and State House of Assemblies as contained in paragraph 15 (a) of the Third Schedule of the 1999 constitution as amended.
The development consultant pointed out that there are 36 State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) responsible for Local Government elections.
He listed the 10 critical stakeholders in election as INEC and SIECs, National Assembly who make the electoral laws, political parties, aspirants and candidates, and Judiciary.
Others are security agencies, CSOs who are accredited observers, media, electorates (voters) and development partners (who provides financial and technical support).
Ojo pointed out that ahead of the 2023 general elections, INEC and other stakeholders created additional 56,872 polling units in June 2021, and subsequently increased the number of polling units to 176,846.
The expert informed that INEC published its 2022–2026 strategic plan as well as the election project plan.
He added that the Federal Government approved the sum of N478.6 billion over two budget cycles (2022 –N305bn and 2023 – N173.6bn) for the conduct of the elections, though the actual release was not made public.
"Electoral Act 2022 was signed into law on February 25, 2022 after five previous failed attempts. The new Act gave INEC wide range of powers including conduct of technology driven polls and power to review election results declared by Returning Officers," he added.
Ojo disclosed that a total of 178 relevant tweets were tracked on INEC’s verified X (formerly Twitter) handle within the period.
He stated that the tweets generated a total of 10,552 retweets, 4,829 quotes, 44,236 comments and 72,091 likes.
Ojo said: "In visuals, INEC’s tweets were accompanied by 549 pictures and 10 videos within the period.
"The News media focused more on disputing matters around INEC such as 182 (46.9%) in print and 93 stories (32.4%) in online, and significantly less on Voter/Civic Education (VCE).
"INEC’s social media handle focused on key issues of Voter Education (31%) and Election Security (19%).
"This shows that INEC has a weak news media handling as evidence shows its civic voter education activities did not reflect in the news media."
He hinted that the media and CSOs should engage in conflict sensitive reportage of elections devoid of hate speech, fake news and undue sensationalism, advocating that proper training of accredited observers and journalists on the electoral process and procedures is desirable.
The expert urged the media to fact-check INEC and citizens posts on social media before publishing for public consumption.
He harped on the need for the media and CSO's to liaise with INEC Citizen Contact Centre and Voter Education and Publicity Department for authentic information on the activities of the commission.
"There is no gainsaying that the media and civil society organisations need to assist INEC to bolster people’s trust and confidence in the electoral management body.
"There is need for a symbiotic relationship among the three institutions. However, INEC has a lot of house cleaning to do ahead of February 3, 2024 re-run and bye-election polls, as well as future elections.
"This presentation is a pointer to areas INEC can do a quick fix to enhance the trust and confidence of the citizens especially the electorate. It is hoped that the aforementioned recommendations would be given prompt attention," he said.
Chief Executive Officer of Media and Society Lagos, Prof Akin Akingbulu harped on the need for Nigeria to have better electoral process and institutions.
He looked forward to a robust idea that would be plugged into strengthening the electoral process.
Akingbulu commended IPC for organising an event that would achieve fulfilled and better results.
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