INEC constituency delineation and other matters arising

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INEC constituency delineation and other matters arising
By Ugo Harris Ukandu abujarock@yahoo.com
Nigerias electoral map will soon change for the better if Dr.Maurice Iwu of INEC succeeds in his current push for a morebalanced redistricting of Nigerias skewed constituency districts.
Iwu proposes a redrawing of the electoral map to right the wrongsof the past and also to give teeth to the constitutional mandaterequiring such an exercise every ten years. Dr. Iwu was in Atlanta,Georgia the week of July 15, 2008 to address and educate Nigeriansin Diaspora and the international community on this very importantpolicy shift  a paradigm one that surely augurs well for Nigeriaas a young democracy.
Maurice Iwu was well received and many of us who are keen watchersof events in Nigeria (from afar), applauded him for taking such abold step geared towards having equitable representation ofminorities and fair balance between constituencies of equalpopulation. It is a novel step and the first by any nationalelectoral commission chairman in recent history.
We therefore, call on all our compatriots back in Nigeria tosupport Iwu in this venture and to reject any temptation to playdirty politics with it.
As Iwu clearly detailed it, this exercise will create and empowermore districts that have more voting population by allocating moreelectoral seats to them and redistricting certain contiguous groupstogether in some states.
Other parameters include homogeneity, proximity, equality ofconstituencies and the all important proportional representation. Areview of back issues of press clips on point will show that thisis something that has remained closer to Dr Iwus heart for quitesometime.
Maurice Iwu had during the presentation of INECs Official Reportof the 2007 General Election in December of 2007 at the NationalPress Club in Washington DC, pointed out that the current electoralmap of Nigeria with its attendant deficiencies created under themilitary government; contributed some to the difficulties INECexperienced in conducting the last election in Nigeria.
Simply put, constituencies of contiguous and proximate parts arelikely to pose fewer challenges to INEC in terms of movement ofelectoral materials/personnel and collation of results. Maurice Iwuis right on the money. A closer scrutiny of Nigerias currentelectoral map suggests that a great many of them are gerrymandered.This is unfair and undemocratic to boot.
Thus, considering the difficult terrain and poor logistics itengendered in the conduct of the last general election, INEC is nowworking very hard to change it for the better for now and in thefuture.
In the history of Nigerian electoral regimes, this current INECleadership under Dr. Iwu is the only one that has not only createda positive road map for future elections in Nigeria, but also hasintroduced the innovation that electoral preparation for the nextelection must begin immediately after every election.
This assures professionalism and competence in the delivery ofelections. Additionally, the current INEC leadership, as typifiedby Maurice Iwu, is the only electoral body in Nigerian history thathas upgraded and is creating a futuristic and sophisticated datamining and information management system to meet internationalstandard set by the United Nations Organization.
All these are admirable and should be lauded and backed by allNigerians, regardless of political persuasion. It is all for thecommon good.
A further review of Maurice Iwus many innovations will show thatINEC is now introducing a Business Intelligence model by creatingsolid electoral archives, sophisticated data mining technology,instant references, state by state statistical measurements, dataanalysis and logistics, local Government and polling booth ondemand information systems. Under Maurice Iwu, INEC is refining itscollation methodologies, projection forecasting, up to datetraining of its staff and the deploying of modern technology to thefullest in the conduct of future elections in Nigeria.
As an example, this is the only electoral body in Nigerian historythat has created a functional customer service system, anddeveloped an up-to-date website that is user friendly and easy toaccess and navigate information and data any day, any time from anywhere in the world.
According to the INEC Official Report on the 2007 election at page92, elections the world over are not mere events; they areprocesses planned over a period of time. Planning, as experiencehas shown, yields positive results.
It can not be stated any better than this and Maurice Iwu has madethis part of his new mantra at many public fora where he addressedNigerians in Diaspora. We agree.
INECs evident hard work and resurgent professionalism as revealedby the presentation by Dr. Maurice Iwu in Atlanta, is wont to bringbetter planned elections, improvement and deployment ofcutting-edge technology in the delivery of elections and many morepositive impacts on the polity. The unalloyed cooperation of all -the government, National Assembly, the states and local governmentand international community is necessary for the proper educationof the citizenry on these many innovations.
The Ministry of Information and Orientation as ably led by JohnOdey can be trusted to weigh-in on this by deploying its now muchimproved information dissemination systems to assist in educatingNigerians.
It needs to be understood and stressed that Maurice Iwus planswill curtail corruption in the nomination process, improvepersonnel, improve women and minority participation, upgrade INEClogistics, tighten security for voters and votes, improve votereducation, enhance election observation and monitoring and, aboveall, build enduring bulwarks around Nigerias delicatedemocratization efforts.
Dr. Iwu is right in his postulates that for Nigeria to experienceimproved and credible elections in the future there is an urgentneed to eliminate paper-based balloting and to introduceelectronic-based balloting. I believe his prescriptions to holdbetter prospects than the so-called Option A4 in which weexperienced voters shunting from behind one candidate to the otheror the other bizarre variety where party agents conspired toovercount or undercount votes. Electronic voting systems createpermanent records with virtually no write-access to the core data,thus assuring zero tampering. And Maurice Iwu knows better becausehis universally acclaimed research at the Walter Reed MilitaryHospital in Washington DC exposed him to the application ofadvanced computer systems and methods at their very best.
Finally, Maurice Iwu recommended that election staggering should beencouraged, whereby like in the United States and Great Britain,elections are held for different offices at different dates insteadof the current logistically nightmarish practice of scheduling allelections together to be held in one single day. It makes a lot ofsense because Nigeria does not yet boast the efficienttransportation regime that could have assisted INEC to quicklydeploy men and materials to far-flung electoral precincts in realtime. The most efficient manner in which INEC delivered on theby-elections is mainly because all the by-elections did not have tohold in one day. This is illustrative enough of Iwus thesis onthis point.

Ugo Harris Ukandu is of Nigeria Justice & Democracy Project,Washington DC abujarock@yahoo.com