By Ben  Agande
The endorsement by members of the National Council of States of the Vice Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano, Professor Attahiru Jega as the chairman-designate of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has deservedly elicited a cautious optimism from many Nigerians who have commented on the decision by the Council of State.

Although the former president of the Academic Staff Union of UniversitiesASSU would not assume full responsibilities until he is confirmed by the Senate, many Nigerians have already began to set a road map for him on what is expected of him as he takes what some people have described as a thankless job and a cemetery for people’s credibility.

The interest generated so far by the nomination of Professor Jega is as much for the institution as it is for it designated head. Shortly before President Goodluck Jonathan ordered the former chairman of INEC Professor Maurice Iwu to proceed on immediate pre-disengagement leave, the credibility of the commission and its leadership was at its nadir. Nigerians neither had confidence on the commission nor its leadership to conduct a credible and acceptable election. With the unenviable record of the worst electoral empire, the commission’s name was dragged in the mud .

One of the first challenges that Jega would face if he is confirmed by the Senate would be to restore the confidence of Nigerians and indeed the international community that INEC under his leadership would be a credible organization that would carry out its responsibilities in the most professional way. During the last era, there was no differentiating between the commission and the ruling political party as the then leadership of the commission was more vociferous in defending the inadequacies of ruling party than even officials of the party itself.

While several aspects of the electoral process need  overhauling during the tenure of Professor Jega, one aspect that would perhaps need his urgent attention is in the area of the compilation of the Voters Register. What is obtainable now is a sham of what is supposed to be.

The voters register is so compromised that in the register, you have names of everybody except those eligible to vote. That is why while the likes of Mike Tyson, Nelson Mandela and George bush could have their names in the Nigerian Voters’ Register, the likes of Alex Ekwueme and others could not find their names on the register. Producing a credible voters’ register is one sure way of telling Nigerians that he is indeed serious about the task ahead.

The electoral Act 2006 has some noticeable deficiency which the National assembly is working to correct. As a man who has been involved with the electoral process in the country for so long a time, Professor Jega must bring his experience to bear by impressing it on members of the National Assembly the right thing to do to have a functional Act that would guide the conduct of the next sets of election.

But most importantly, the new INEC chairman must urgently address the low morale amongst the staff of the commission. During the reign of the former chairman, staff were sent on official assignment and gleefully told by the leadership of the commission that ‘the state government would take care of them’. In such a situation it would have been a miracle for the commission to conduct a credible election.

While the national commissioners and other senior staffers of the commission bask in all sort of incentive, the middle cadre and junior staff  are said not to be well  treated. Professor Jega must work to create a sense of belonging amongst the staff and properly retrain those who have become rusty as a result of several years of inertia.

The new INEC boss will certainly achieve nothing if he does not have a clean break from the past leadership of the commission.

He cannot afford to be seen to be amassing wealth while preaching transparency and credibility. While some of the leaders of the commission in the past were busy making public commitment to conducting free and fair elections, they were busy sabotaging this commitment by awarding sensitive contracts to their cronies who do not have the competence for the jobs.

Professor Jega must insist on ability to deliver and not political patronage while deciding which firm gets what job. This will go a long way in sending a message that it is no longer going to be business as usual.

For the new INEC chair, a new dawn has just begun. For a man who was a terror to military regimes and whose nomination for the top job has elicited only commendation even from natural cynic, the stakes are too high for him to fail. And unless he is ready to be different from his predecessor both in content and in character, he would certainly go the way of those who had served as INEC chairmen and left with no credibility.

The general acceptability of Professor Jega as it were is a pointer to the fact that he cannot afford to fail in this onerous and certainly very demanding task.