Having 37 Election Management Bodies In Nigeria Wasteful – FESTUS OKOYE

Barrister Festus Okoye, a former National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has called for the integration of state electoral commissions into INEC. He also suggested the establishment of an Electoral Offences Commission to relieve INEC of the responsibility of prosecuting electoral offenders.

In an interview with Daily Trust, Okoye argued that having 37 separate bodies to conduct elections in Nigeria is inefficient and wasteful. He emphasized that consolidating the State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) into a single, central election management body would streamline operations, eliminate duplication of staff and resources, and improve the electoral process.

Okoye noted that both the Electoral Reform Committee of 2008 and the Constitution and Electoral Reform Committee of 2017 recommended eliminating state electoral commissions. He advocated for INEC to take on the additional responsibility of managing elections in the country’s 10,000 new constituencies, while a separate Electoral Offences Commission should handle the prosecution of electoral offenders.