New Delhi: A nine-member delegation of
election commission of Nigeria on Wednesday began their study visit,
during which they will be given a ground-level experience of
India`s electoral system and processes.
The Nigerian delegation headed by its National
Commissioner Lai Olurode visited India International Institute
of Democracy and Election Management (IIDEM), a body of the
Election Commission of India.
The delegation, comprising three other National
Commissioners - Ambassador Ahmed Wali, Abdulkadir S Oniyangi,
Nuru Yakubu, besides the Resident Electoral Commissioner
Kassim Gana Gaidam and four senior officials, was welcomed by
Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi.
He pointed out that as both Nigeria and India had large
populations as also regional, religious, ethnic, cultural and
linguistic diversities, both Election Commissions can learn
from each other. Election Commissioner H S Brahma also hoped
the interaction would be mutually beneficial.
Leader of Nigerian delegation Lai Olurode, complimented
the Election Commission of India for promoting democratic
processes through innovative methods. He said that considering
India`s strong institutions and the resilience of its
democratic processes, the Independent National Electoral
Commission of Nigeria had chosen India for its study visit.
He also said the successes gained by their Commission at
the recent national elections in Nigeria needed to be
consolidated and institutionalised, for which, he felt they
had a lot to learn from the Indian experience.
As part of its programme for Nigerian Commissioners, IIDEM
has arranged for a number of presentations and discussions,
including key ideas about Indian Electoral Model, Election
related legal framework, Electoral Management systems,
Implementation challenges, Voter Education and Electoral
Training.
Three field visits have also been organised to Uttar
Pradesh, Punjab and the National Capital Territory of Delhi,
to give the visiting delegation a ground-level experience of
the working of electoral system and processes, particularly in
relation to preparatory work for elections, summary revision
of electoral rolls and voters? facilitation.
IIDEM, a recently-launched initiative of the Election
Commission, is an advanced resource centre of learning,
research, training and extension for participatory democracy
and election management.
During its less-than-three months` existence, the
Institute has already hosted 12 national-level training
programmes, and one international training programme for
senior election officials from Kenya. IIDEM is presently
considering training requests from a number of countries
including Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives.
PTI
