Fwd: NDERG INFORMATION: Justice Uwais' Electoral Reform Committee Report Volume 1 [Main Report]

[Mobolaji ALUKO]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nderg Reform <nde...@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Jan 30, 2009 at 8:22 AM
Subject: NDERG INFORMATION: Justice Uwais' Electoral Reform Committee Report Volume 1 [Main Report]
To: naijap...@yahoogroups.com, naijael...@yahoogroups.com, nd...@yahoogroups.com

 

 

PLEASE DISSEMINATE WIDELY......

 

 

January 30, 2009

 

 

Dear Fellow Nigerians & Friends of Nigeria:

 

 

Please find attached in PDF format Volume 1 (Main Report) of retd. Justice Uwais' Electoral Reform Committee, submitted to President Yar'Adua in December 2008.  The transmittal letter is provided below.

 

The full report (which we don't have yet in electronic form) runs into several hundred more pages, but the present Volume gives a good Executive Summary that can already be commented upon.

 

We urge that you continue to make your comments in your various forums of choice, but for ease of collation, we also suggest that  you subscribe to:

 

1.  NigeriaDia...@yahoogroups.com  - for Diaspora-voting related discussions and any other electoral reform discourse.  This is open to all subscribers.

 

2.  Nd...@yahoogroups.com - for NDERG members only, ie be for those who contribute FINANCIALLY towards defraying the legal costs of the Class Action Suit recently resolved in Diaspora Nigerians' favor with respect to voting abroad; other anticipated lobbying, public relations and administrative costs;  as well those working together closely to legislatively and administratively ensure that we successfully realize the Diaspora vote in 2011. [To contribute, please use our Bank of America Deposit Account No. 44600-561-7515 "Nigerian Diaspora Electoral Reform Group NDERG".]

 

 

Best wishes.

 

 

NDERG

_______________________________________-

 

 

TRANSMITTAL LETTER

 

 

December 2008

 

His Excellency
Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, GCFR
President, Federal Republic of Nigeria
State House
Abuja

 

 

SUBMISSION OF THE REPORT OF THE ELECTORAL REFORM COMMITTEE

Your Excellency will recall that on the 28th August, 2007, you set up a 22-member Electoral Reform Committee to "examine the entire electoral process with a view of ensuring that we  raise the quality and standard of our general elections and thereby deepen our democracy." The Committee was given twelve months to complete its assignment.  However, due to unavoidable delays at the beginning, and the large number of memoranda received at the public hearings,
the Committee was unable to meet this deadline, and it was compelled to seek for, and obtain,  Your Excellency's kind approval for extension from September - December, 2008

2.  In order to carry out this assignment effectively, the Committee consulted widely with individuals, institutions and governments.  The Committee sought for and received a total of 1466 memoranda from the general public.  The Committee also held public hearings in two capital cities in each of the six geo-political zones and the Federal Capital Territory during which a total of 907 presentations were made.  Although the Committee shunned overseas travel as a matter of principle, it benefitted from foreign expertise by inviting for interaction, experts from Botswana, cameroun, Canada, Cote D'Ivoire, France, Ghana, India, Lesotho, Mexico,
Niger Republic and South Africa.  The Committee interacted with former Heads of State and  Presidents to benefit from their wealth of experience in election matters.  The Committee also consulted other stakeholders including State Governments, Political Parties, National Independent Electoral Commission, State Independent Electoral Commissions, Security Agencies, Civil Society Groups, Women Organisations, the Media and the General Public.

 

3.  Having reviewed Nigeria's history with problematic elections along thelines specified in  its Terms of Reference, the Committee has established that the lack of independence of the  Electoral Commissions at both the Federal and State levels is a key deficiency of our  electoral process.  Accordingly, the Committee has made appropriate recommendations to address the focal issues of the composition, administrative autonomy and funding of the electoral commissions. The Committeee has also mad recommendations to improve the performance of various
institutions and stakeholders in the electoral process.   These include the Legistlature,  Judiciary, Executive, Political Parties, Security Agencies, Civil Society Organisations, Media and Nigerian citizens.  The Committee has found that election mindsets are one of the critical elements that determine the success of electoral practices, and the election mindsets of Nigerians are not only largely negative; they are also largely irrational.  Appropriate recommendations
have therefore been made to change the election mindsets of Nigerians in order to minimise violence and rigging in elections and building lasting democratic institutions and culture.

 

4.  The Committee has examined the strengths and weaknesses of our present electoral process in relation to electoral best practices in countries similarly placed as Nigeria, and made appropriate recommendations aimed at promoting greater inclusiveness and minimizing both pre- and post-election tension.

5.  Some of the recommendations in this Report require changes in existing electoral procedures, reallocation of electoral functions or creation of new institutions.  Where such changes require new legislation or amendments to existing laws, the Committee has prepared appropriate drafts of the required legislation, in order to facilitate and speed-up the implementation process.

The draft legislations whiche are annexed to the Main Report are:-

 

(i)  Draft of a Bil for an Act to Amend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999;
(ii) Draft of a Bill for an Act to Amend the Electoral Act, 2006; and
(iii) Draft of a Bill for an Act to Establish the Electoral Offences Commission.

6.  The Report of the COmmittee is structured into the following six volumes:

 

Volume I:   Main Report
Volume II:  Memoranda (22 Parts)
Volume III: Analysis of Public Hearings
Volume IV:  Verbatim Report of Public Hearings (13 Parts)
Volume V:   Reports of Retreats (2 Parts)
Volume VI:  Appendices (2 Parts)

 

7.  The Committee is firmly convinced that the acceptance and implementation of the recommendations contained in this Report will significantly restore credibility in the electoral process and usher in an era of free, fair and credible elections in the country.

 

8.  We thank Your Excellency most sincerely for giving us this opportunity to serve the nation. We have the pleasure to inform you that the Committee has now completed its work and is hereby submitting its final report.

Signed:

 

Hon. Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais, GCON
Former Chief Justice of Nigeria
Chairman

[Includes 21 other signatories]

 

_________________________________________________________________