Recent news from government sources, concerning the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC], Nigeria’s election management body, indicate that the federal government plans to unbundle the agency before the next general election in 2027. On the face of it, the information appears a big news. In truth, however, there is nothing in the news. It is nothing more than another construction from government quarters, designed to create a desired impression.
When it comes to what is commonly known as ‘all motion, no movement’, give it to government. Bureaucracy, in its modern face, is actually known, universally, to be a drag. It is worse in a place like Nigeria, where deception is worn as an outer garment in government and double speak has been elevated to an art. Even as contradictions in official pronouncements and actions, do not seem to bother the very officers of the state associated with, the rest of the public has been left to decide what they want to believe when official statements are made.
It is instructive that a high-level committee headed by no less a person than the Secretary to the Federal Government (SGF), Senator George Akume, is currently deliberating on the 2012 Oronsaye Report, the kernel of which is the need to reduce excessive weight in federal bureaucracy. The Akume Committee was set up by President Bola Tinubu, following the government’s decision to implement the Report, Akume’s Committee, tasked with working out modalities for implementing the Oronsaye Report, has a clear task; to determine which of the agencies and departments, littering the administrative landscape of Nigeria’s sluggish federal bureaucracy, should be merged, abolished or relocated to more appropriate ministries.
Interestingly, while the SGF and his committee are still on their assignment to reduce the size of government, the same government has gone ahead to create few more new agencies and departments. It is possible that the names of the new agencies were promptly forwarded to the Akume Committee, for them to determine whether they too will stay, abolished or sent back to where they had just come from.
Just last week for instance, the Nigerian Electric Regulatory Commission [NERC] established a brand new bureaucratic entity called the Nigerian Independent System Operator of Nigeria (NISO). The coming of NISO marks the unbundling of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), according to the leadership of NERC, which said it acted, based on the powers conferred on it by the Electricity Act 2022. No problems. The function of the new entity, NISO will include “managing assets and liabilities related to market and system operation on behalf of market participants and consumer groups”. Don’t blame yourself if you don’t exactly understand all that. You are not alone.
By unbundling TCN, NERC was only following on the footstep of its ancestors. The root of the restless spirit of ‘unbundling’ of public institutions in Nigeria can be located to the power sector. It started with the old National Electric Power Authority [NEPA] in 2005, which was baptized as Power Holding Company of Nigeria 9PHCN), as part of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act of President Olusegun Obasanjo. The sector has gone through various intricate surgeries thereafter, all in the spirit of unbundling, which is yet to end. As it seems, once unbundling starts, it doesn’t end.
NEPA must have a strong, unforgiving spirit. Nigeria has not rested since the agency was displaced and unbundled. The direct successor of NEPA,PHCN begat DISCOS, GENCOS, NERC (or NERCO), TCN and now NISO. The wayward procreation continues. Unfortunately, while this multiplication evolves, steady supply of electricity remains elusive. indeed, at the end of the long bureaucratic tunnel, there is hardly light. The experience of unbundling at the power sector, therefore, imbues the phrase unbundling, with a troubling aura.
Now, government, according to report, wants to unbundle INEC. Let it be said, right away, that INEC is not unwieldy. Nor is it bloated, as a national body. Its problems, have nothing to do with size. No uncomplimentary act by INEC and at INEC, during election, for which there are some, is traceable to its size or to it’s been overburdened in responsibility. Even if, a new duty is assigned to the Commission, to take up the task of prosecuting electoral offenders, a department carved out of the legal department, can effectively handle that. No misbehaviour by the IREv or BVAS during elections can be said to derive for the size or over concentration of functions in the Commission. INEC’s problems are carnal. They are not spiritual.
What needs to be unbundled about INEC is, essentially, the mindset of the government. After that can come a certain level of re-orientation of the leadership of the commission, possibly with new provision for sanction for performances unbecoming of such a critical assignment. In the main, there are three essential factors that determine the quality of conduct of elections and the reliability of the outcome of elections in Nigeria. The first is the laws on which the entire electoral process is anchored. The second, is the integrity or lack thereof, of the leadership of the electoral commission. The third, is the disposition of the government in power. Of these three factors, all of them very critical, the disposition of the government in power, has been proved to be the overarching determinant of the comportment of election managers and the standard of elections.
Muhammadu Buhari was bad for democratic elections. That is a fact that history cannot miss. In 2019 his government presided over the general election, the presidential end of which he was declared a winner of, but not without the curious debate of whether INEC had a server or not. With no other option in the final analysis, everybody accepted that the Commission’s election results were possibly saved in the cloud. No problem.
In 2023, Buhari promised to preside over the conduct of a general election that will be a pride to all citizens. Nigerians are still waiting for him to redeem the pledge. The leadership of the election management body surely have their fair share in the disapproval by the overwhelming percentage of citizens over elections, such as in 2023. The reality however, is that the disposition of the government in power is, and will always be a determinant factor, affecting how elections go in Nigeria. What then, is there to unbundle at INEC?
Government should be serious. It knows what to do, if it wants to. This song of unbundling INEC is another song of distraction which people should leave the government to sing alone. The pivotal place of technology in driving elections, which policy, the current leadership of INEC interestingly invested so much effort and commitment to instal, remains robust and in place. The capability of these installed technology has really not been faulted. So, how does unbundling INEC and creating another layer of bureaucracy address wilful human acts? There must be a limit to this game of pulling wool over the eyes of people as a strategy in governance. Government should unbundle its mentality concerning elections. That is the right place to start.