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He made the declaration on Monday in his opening remarks at the 6th Assembly of the ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions (ECONEC) in Abuja.
ECONEC was formed in February 2008 in Guinea Conakry by ECOWAS with the agenda of organising transparent elections in the subregion.
Represented by the Secretary to Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, President Buhari noted that Nigeria’s bilateral electoral assistance to countries in the subregion was not only good for democracy and periodic elections but for the overall stability of the subregion.
He further enumerated the areas of support offered by Nigeria to ECONEC to include, material, technical and logistics supports.
He said: “We will continue to support democratic consolidation in the subregion. One way of doing so is for the Election Management Bodies (EMBs) to take the lead through peer support. I have followed with keen interest, the efforts of ECONEC in this regard. In the last two years, ECONEC, under the leadership of the Nigerian electoral body Chairman, has been a strong advocate for Nigeria’s bilateral electoral assistance to countries in the subregion based on need.
“Within the limits of available resources, Nigeria has responded by providing material and technical support to ECONET. The more recent examples include logistics support to Sierra Leone, deployment of experts from INEC on the request of ECOWAS and the United Nations to assist in cleaning up the voters’ register in Liberia ahead of the Presidential run-off election in 2017 and the provision of voter registration equipment to Guinea Bissau which facilitated the conduct of parliamentary election in March this year.
“I want to assure you of Nigeria’s continued assistance because a credible election in our subregion is not only good for democracy and periodic elections, it is also good for overall sub-regional stability. We cannot allow the failure of the political process to destabilise our countries to the extent that regional military intervention becomes inevitable as is unfortunately still the case in the subregion.
“With the successful conduct of parliamentary elections in Guinea Bissau in March this year, the next big step is the Presidential election. I urge ECONEC to continue to work with ECOWAS by engaging with all stakeholders in the country for a successful Presidential election scheduled for 24th November 2019 that will restore stability and eventually facilitate the withdrawal of troops.”
President Buhari also thanked the United Nations, particularly its special representative in West Africa and the Sahel, Mohammed Ibn Chambas, for being a pillar of support for security and good governance in the West Africa subregion.
“Let me register Nigeria’s appreciation to the development partners for their support to electoral and democratic processes in our subregion. Let me also express our appreciation to the United Nations through the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel, His Excellency Mohammed Ibn Chambas, who has been such a pillar of support to peace, security and good governance in our subregion, at the diplomatic level.”
“I cannot conclude my remarks without expressing the network’s gratitude to the bilateral assistance in terms of electoral logistics consistently extended by the successive Nigerian Governments to countries across the sub-region, including vehicles, motorcycles, boats, voter registration machines and professional expertise.
“On this note, may I also extend the network appeal to ECOWAS to continue to strive to actualise the vision of establishing the electoral logistics depot at Lungi in Sierra Leone from which countries in need can draw such facilities as ballot boxes and trucks for movement of election materials without each country having to procure its own materials with every election. This is achievable and will in the long run help to reduce the cost of elections in our sub-region.”
Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) Professor Mahmood Yakubu who incidentally is the chairman of ECONEC identified funding as a big challenge to the body but expressed satisfaction “that many countries have fully paid their dues for two years. This is a very encouraging show of confidence in the management of the network.”
Professor Yakubu equally joined President Buhari to appreciate Nigeria’s continued assistance to the consolidation of democracy in the region through the provision of electoral logistics to inspire confidence in the electoral process.
He said: “I cannot conclude my remarks without expressing the network’s gratitude to the bilateral assistance in terms of electoral logistics consistently extended by the successive Nigerian Governments to countries across the subregion, including vehicles, motorcycles, boats, voter registration machines and professional expertise.
“On this note, may I also extend the network’s appeal to ECOWAS to continue to strive to actualise the vision of establishing the electoral logistics depot at Lungi in Sierra Leone from which countries in need can draw such facilities as ballot boxes and trucks for movement of election materials without each country having to procure its own materials with every election. This is achievable and will in the long run help to reduce the cost of elections in our subregion.”
