The UK government says supporting Nigeria’s 2015 general elections is a vital part of the UK’s global commitment to supporting free and fair elections across the globe.
At the launch of a program by the UK’s Department For International Development, the Permanent Secretary of the DFID, Mr Mark Lowcock, urged Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure that electoral process would continue to improve.
“The upcoming elections in Ekiti and Osun States will be an opportunity for INEC to demonstrate successful electoral management and ability to work with political parties and security agencies to conduct successful elections,” Mr Lowcock said.
The program called ‘Deepening Democracy in Nigeria 2’ will cost 35 million pounds and it is aimed at strengthening democratic governance in Nigeria.
The electoral body had said that the Ekiti and Osun States governorship elections would be used to test run the introduction of a permanent voters card which would be used in the 2015 general elections.
INEC had made several efforts to reassure Nigerians of the commission’s commitment to conducting credible elections after a governorship election in Anambra State last year witnessed series of irregularities that led to the call for the cancellation of the election result by the opposition parties.
