THE United Kingdom has set some steps which it said Nigeria needed to follow if it must have credible elections in 2011, even as the United States government said it was impressed by the actions which the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), under its Director-General, Ms Arunma Oteh, has taken to date to reform the country’s capital market sector.
The US described as bold, the steps already taken by the SEC and observed that they were critical to the enhancement Nigeria’s overall macroeconomic framework.
The US Ambassador to Nigeria, Robin Sanders, on Tuesday, outlined the feelings of her government to the “transformative” actions to reform the capital market and financial sectors at SEC office in Abuja, where she had gone to discuss key capital market issues in Nigeria, Nigeria’s sovereign rating and efforts to improve the regulatory environment and transparency of actions taken by stock brokerages in the country.
She said the United States would continue to lend its support to the SEC and seek ways to expand existing capacity, building, and technical assistance programmes.
Meanwhile, UK’s High Commissioner to Nigeria, Bob Dewar, in a statement in Abuja, noted that the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, and his new team needed to overhaul the register of voters urgently, with a credible plan and without fraud.
He said making every vote count required good and impartial security while the police must produce their plan ahead of 2011.
The envoy stated that not only must results be published at the polling stations no local or state authorities should also be allowed to defraud the results on the way up the ladder.
He said: “This means that eligible voters should be able to vote. Their votes should be counted honestly. The final result must be the true one and come from the bottom up not the top down.
“As always, a lot depends on behaviour of politicians at local, state and national levels that is, walking the talk; both ruling party and opposition. Party primaries should be democratic, transparent and credible. And everyone should commit themselves publicly to avoid violence, intimidation, fraud and hate speech.
“The 2011 elections are such a good opportunity to rebuild trust between citizens and the state. And Nigeria can show the way in Africa and the Commonwealth by carrying out free, fair and credible elections. The opportunity must not be squandered. Voters’ apathy can be reversed if the process is serious and politicians really show they want credible elections. If that’s the case it can’t be ‘business as usual,” he said.