Yes, I am amazed at how sometimes some people think a country can keep many of its citizens by and large uneducated or not well-informed, infrastructure terribly bad, and failed to wire the country very well, with poorly available networks in some regions, and then they expect an INEC or JEGA to do magic or miracle. We should remember what development economists call "complementarity of factors" in development.
Whatever INEC's performance is, it has to be evaluated within the context of the fact that the smooth running and conduct of an election depends on many other things that are interdependent but beyond INEC's constitutional power to provide or even guarantee.
Focusing just on INEC alone to explain the smoothness of the conduct of the election is the functional equivalent of judging the success and failure of a professor's role in teaching without looking at the facilities available in a university or classroom that are necessary for smooth instruction. I know if professors are to be judged this way, they will be the first to complain about the situation being unfair. But here we are.
Of course, my observation here does not mean that INEC cannot be legitimately held accountable but I do not feel it is fair to just focus on some people doing magic for a country whose leaders have for decades played an important role in destroying it or retarding its development.
Given the resources that Nigeria has, it is amazing how the country is not adequately wired. People in the U.S. pay less for accessing the internet compared to Nigerians. In the U.S., if you can afford a laptop you can go to a coffee shop and access internet without paying for it. Sometimes those of us outside Nigeria are even more informed about what is happening in the country compared to some segments of the country's population, because many in Diaspora can easily access newspapers and other sources of information online and at a relatively cheap price.
So apart from the global digital divide, even within Nigeria you have regional and class digital divide. If the elite complainers want everything to be smooth in Nigeria's elections in the future, they should: a) invest in moral and ethical rearmament; b) invest in infrastructure; c) invest in educating citizens; d) invest in modern technology that is relevant and appropriate to whatever the needs of the country are.
Samuel
--You should get out of this ethnic syndrome and self- centered agitation and move on by respecting and appreciating a thorough job done by Jega and his team. The whole world has credited the INEC leadership and its entire team for the job well done in spite the daunting challenges they had apart from some disgruntled Ibo elements who called themselves international Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law.We are anxiously waiting for the results of the last presidential elections. I hope this group is not another Nzeribe who worked to scuttle the 1993 presidential election. Nigerians must shine their eyes!Prof. Segun Ogungbemi--As Nigeria, Nigerians and the international community await the official results of the referenced crucial polls in Nigeria, the leadership ofInternational Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law in Southeast Nigeria, being the rights based organization in Nigeria that had earliest entry into the 2015 general polls' advocacy in the country including the just held segments; and having made our position, observations and reservations publicly known; has resolved to take a critical look at the socio-cultural consequences (negative) of the polls' management and conducts under the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) headed by Prof Attahiru M. Jega. The grand aim is geared towards making them an eternal reference point in contemporary election industry in Nigeria and beyond as well as to ensure their proper remedies to avoid transforming into widespread post election violence and wanton calamities. We also wish to ensure that they are not repeated in the country or any part thereof in subsequent polls...............From chidi opara reportschidi opara reports is published as a social service by PublicInformationProjects
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