Our Mission
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Extraordinary Experiences
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Our Core Values
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About us
Who We Are
The Electoral Forum serves as a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary platform committed to strengthening election administration, sustainable democratic governance, and democracy in Nigeria and across Africa. The Forum aims to enhance the integrity, credibility, and design of electoral processes; to advance substantive citizens’ participation; and overall to rekindle interests in, and deepen, democracy, thereby advancing transparency, accountability, and public trust in electoral and democratic governance.
The Electoral Forum brings together diverse resource persons, practitioners, and experts from election management bodies (EMBs), academia, civil society organizations (CSOs), media, and the development sector to conceptualise solutions to the problems facing electoral governance in Nigeria. Through its engagements, it facilitates collaborative problem-solving and policy innovation to address systemic challenges in electoral governance. It works to strengthen and enhance the institutional capacity, responsiveness, legitimacy, performance, effectiveness, and accountability of both the “supply side” (EMBs, legislature, executive, judiciary, etc.) and the “demand side” (CSOs, media, electorate, citizens) of electoral governance, whilst advancing citizens’ participation in democracy. This dual and integrated approach ensures that the electoral process and governance in particular, and democracy in general, is more inclusive, participatory, transparent, and accountable.
Through this approach, the Forum promotes knowledge production, peer and shared learning, collaboration, and innovation, as evidence-based tools for reforming and strengthening democratic governance and systems. In meeting its mission, The Electoral Forum provides evidence-based research, data-driven insights, and actionable policy recommendations to support EMBs, CSOs, and other key democratic stakeholders. It functions as a knowledge and convening platform that fosters informed dialogue and promotes best practices in electoral reform. It is chaired by Professor Adebayo Olukoshi. Other members of the Forum include Professor Attahiru Jega, former INEC Chairman; Professor Okechukwu Ibeanu, Hajiya Amina Zakari, and Professor Anthonia Simbine, former INEC National Commissioners; and Hon. Glory Ukpong and Hon. Hannatu Usman Biniyat, former Chairpersons of Akwa Ibom State Independent Electoral Commission and Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission, respectively. Hons. Ukpong and Biniyat were also Chairpersons and Secretary of the Forum of State Independent Electoral Commissions (FOSIECOM) during their tenure. The Forum has been supported by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) and MacArthur Foundation. The Electoral Forum is an initiative of The Electoral Hub, an affiliate of Initiative for
Research, Innovation and Advocacy in Development (IRIAD).
Our Background
Since 1960, Nigeria’s electoral management body (EMB) has been reconstituted several times and given various names such as Federal Electoral Commission (FEC), Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO), National Electoral Commission (NEC), National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON), and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). In addition to the national EMB, there are also state EMBs, known as State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs), in each of the 36 states in Nigeria. This means that there are 37 election management bodies in Nigeria.
These various EMBs have had Chairs, National and SIEC Commissioners, and Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) who have gained a wealth of experience and expertise in the course of their activities. What is more, some of these staff have served up to the maximum of two terms, making a total of ten years of electoral experience and knowledge acquisition. This provides a large pool of resource persons whose electoral knowledge and experience should be utilised to improve the integrity and credibility of the electoral process in Nigeria and Africa at large.
In line with the goal of The Electoral Hub to enhance knowledge and provide solutions to improve integrity, accountability, and credibility of the electoral process, that the Electoral Forum was established under the chairmanship of Professor Adebayo Olukoshi. Professor Olukoshi is a Distinguished Professor at the Wits School of Governance, Wits University. He was the immediate Director for Africa and West Asia at the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA). He has decades of experience in international relations, governance and human rights, having served in various organisations, including the UN African Institute for Economic Development and Planning, the Africa Governance Institute, the Council for Development of Social Science Research in Africa, the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, the Nordic Africa Institute in Uppsala, and the South Centre in Geneva.
He is joined by other notable, experienced and high profile practitioners including a former chairman of INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, OFR, Hajia Amina Zakari, Professor Anthonia Taye Simbine, Professor Olatunde Babawale, Mr. E.A. Johnson, Mr. Lawal Wase, Mr. Okey Ndeche, Mrs. Ikwunma Halliday, Hajia Rahma Abdullahi, Ms. Lois Auta, Mr. Mike Asukwo, and Dr. Kole Shettima.
The Forum brings together resource persons from EMBs together with other electoral stakeholders to conceptualise solutions to the unique problems facing the electoral process in Nigeria by addressing both the supply (EMBs) and demand (CSOs etc.) sides of electoral services. By facilitating discussions among different stakeholders, we hope to deepen understanding of the electoral process in Nigeria, as well as provide solutions to improve electoral integrity and credibility.
Goals and Objectives
The overall goal of The Electoral Forum is to provide solutions to improve the integrity and credibility of the electoral process in Nigeria in particular and the African continent in general. This goal is broken down into the following objectives:
- Increase knowledge and awareness of the electoral process in Nigeria, including strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
- Aid electoral practitioners and civil society organisations in developing and implementing projects on elections.
- Facilitate collaboration between different stakeholders working to improve the electoral process in Nigeria.
- Inform policymaking and laws on elections in Nigeria.
Activities
- Technical Sessions
- Policy Dialogues and Roundtables
- Advocacy meetings with critical stakeholders of the electoral process
- Virtual meetings on Zoom every last Friday of the month with members of the forum (with the possibility for physical meetings when the COVID-19 situation improves)
- Production and dissemination of policy briefs and tailored recommendations
- Production of infographics and publicity materials to publicise solutions.