Jos — A group, Partner for Electoral Reform, PER, has called on the Federal Government to address the insecurity problem in different parts of the country for the success of the various reform programmes.

The body said at a press conference in Jos, yesterday, that “the ongoing constitutional, political and economic reforms will have no effect if the nation dwells under the atmosphere of anarchy and violence.”

Spokesman of PER, Ezenwa Nwagun who described the group as a civil society coalition of bodies working on democratic governance, elections and human rights called for the implementation of recommendations on electoral reforms.

He listed the issues needing immediate attention ahead of the 2015 election to include, the process of selecting the chair and commissioners of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to remove the power to appoint them from the president if they are to function independently.

The group also listed the delimitation of constituencies exercise in order to provide the needed oversight for the success of the election and ensure good governance.

The group also advocated the establishment of Political Party Registration and Regulatory Commission (PPRR) to oversee the voters’ registration process, the Election Offences Commission, EOC, to prosecute electoral offences, Centre of Democratic Studies, CDS, and National Boundary Commission to oversee constituency delineation.

While commending the House of Representatives for the release of the collated results of public session on constitutional review, the group stressed the need to revisit the age limit for contesting elections into political offices, and called on the Senate Committee on Constitution Review to release a report of the Senate zonal public hearing.

The group also supported the idea of having independent candidates to contest in the 2015 election and expressed its commitment to supporting INEC through a robust voter’s education.