In order to ensure compliance with relevant laws and regulations guiding the operations of Political Parties, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has organized a two-day capacity building workshop for Legal Advisers, Treasurers and Organizing Secretaries of the 45 Political Parties in Abuja.
The workshop was the second in the series of activities the Commission drew up to enhance capacities within the Political Parties towards the 2019 general elections.
The workshop which aimed at strengthening the abilities of the target officers was expected to improve their internal organizational processes.
Delivering the opening remarks at opening of the workshop, the INEC Chairman, Professor Yakubu Mahmood, represented by National Commissioner and Chairperson of the Election Observation and Party Monitoring Committee (EPMC), Professor Antonia Okoosi-Simbine, described the second phase of capacity building workshops as indicative of the Commissions’ commitment towards effective and constructive engagement with political party executives towards building the institutional capacities of all political parties.
“This workshop is therefore an opportunity for Political Party Executives to exchange ideas and learn international best practices in political party administration and operations,” the INEC Chairman said.
Professor Yakubu urged the political parties to contribute to the strengthening of democracy in Nigeria by implementing lessons learnt at the series of capacity building workshops as organized by the Commission.
While outlining the objectives of the workshop, the Special Assistant to the INEC Chairman, Professor Mohammed J. Kuna, said the workshop was designed ‘’…to enhance the administrative and organizational processes of the political parties as well as to enhance their capacities to take interest in the marginalized groups such as women, people living with disabilities, and to promote transparency in the management of the finances of the political parties”.
Another objective for the workshop, he said was “…to enhance the capacities of the political parties to address their internal disputes and resolve these disputes without necessarily resulting to the formal court processes and to enhance the capacities of the political parties to comply with the broad electoral legal framework”.
In his remark the Chairman, Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Mohammed Nalado, represented by the Vice Chairman of IPAC, Dr. Onwubuya A. Breakforth, commended INEC for efforts at reducing internal party wranglings and contributing towards building the capacities of the Political Parties to address their challenges.
The IPAC Chairman further expressed optimism that the workshop would assist in the building of capacities of the political parties in the areas of party administration, management and maintenance of party finances.
Papers presented at the workshop include: Political Party Organisation and Financial Accountability in a Democratic Dispensation; Legal & Administrative Frameworks Governing Electoral Competition and the Organization of Political Parties; Resolving Political Parties Disputes Through Dialogue: the Role of ADR; and Legal and Normative Contexts for Political Party and Campaign Financing.
Others are: Funding, Fund Raising and Political Party Management: Sourcing, Sources and the Legal Framework; and Frameworks fir Effective Planning and Management of Political Party Congresses, Primaries and Conventions.
It would be recalled that the Commission recently organized a two day capacity building workshop for National Chairmen, National Secretaries, National Women Leaders and National Youth Leaders of political parties
