Nigeria owes Afari-Gyan a lot - Prof. Jega

Europa

December 14, 2015 10:07 PM

Speaking at a lecture organised in Accra by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) to mark its 25th anniversary, Prof Jega said “We in Nigeria have a lot that we owe to Dr Afari Gyan."

The former chair of Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega, has stated that Nigeria owes Ghana’s former Electoral Commission chair, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, a lot, as far as restoring stability in the country's electoral system is concerned. Speaking at a lecture organised in Accra by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) to mark its 25th anniversary, Prof Jega said “We in Nigeria have a lot that we owe to Dr Afari Gyan. No doubt he was the longest-serving electoral commissioner on the continent of Africa and no doubt, regardless of what may have happened in the last elections, he’s done a lot to restore stability in the electoral system in your country.”

He added, “we [Nigerians] have learnt a lot from listening to him, understanding the challenges he faced, how he addressed them and how we could do better than he had done because it was very important for us to be able to do that.”Prof Jega believes it behoves African countries to share knowledge amongst themselves in the conduct of elections.

“It’s a very commendable initiative by the IEA to invite me to share my experiences in Nigeria here, but we need to improve the framework of knowledge-sharing among African Electoral Commissions. It’s very important that they meet periodically.

He further called on the Association of African Electoral Authorities, which is being revived, to "provide peer support to electoral commissioners where elections are being conducted because that peer support is also very important.”

Meanwhile, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has challenged Ghana to conduct an election in 2016 worthy of emulation on the continent.

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