The Electoral Hub, an organ of the Initiative for Research, Innovation and Advocacy in Development (IRIAD), has held a two-day methodology workshop from Friday, 9th July to Saturday, 10th July 2021 at Ibeto Hotels, Abuja.
According to a statement signed by Princess Hamman-Obels,the Electoral Hub Lead person, this workshop was in furtherance of our ‘Strengthening Electoral Accountability in Nigeria’ programme, which is supported by the MacArthur Foundation and aimed at institutionalising accountability and anti-corruption in Nigeria.”
The workshop was organised to conceptualise and develop a methodology for two research projects under the programme. The first project, entitled “Electoral Accountability in Nigeria”, will examine the extent of accountability within electoral governance duty bearers involved in and responsible for elections, as well as the implications of this for electoral integrity in Nigeria. The second project, entitled “The Impact of Elections on Democratisation in Nigeria”, will examine the nexus between elections and democratisation, and in particular, the extent to which improved elections affect the quality of representation.
Accorfing to the Princess, the objectives of the workshop were: “To explore and set out a conceptual, theoretical and empirical framework for research on electoral accountability, elections, and democratisation
“To use this framework to facilitate the process of designing and executing research on electoral accountability, elections, and democratisation
“To strengthen capacity for addressing the methodological challenges of researching electoral accountability, elections, and democratisation
“To produce shared understanding among researchers and editors for each project
“To determine the structure and number of chapters in each project
“To allocate specific chapters to researchers”
In attendance included INEC National Commissioner, Professor Okechukwu Ibeanu; former INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega; INEC Special Adviser, Professor Mohammed Kuna; CDD Senior Fellows, Professors Adele Jinadu and Jibrin Ibrahim; Director of MacArthur Foundation, Dr Kole Shettima; and other distinguished scholars and researchers.
The Electoral Hub Lead person said the outputs of the research will be a handbook on Elections and Democratisation, and another book on Electoral Accountability in Nigeria, both of which will contain chapters written by highly experienced and knowledgeable writers.
She said “Through this research, we hope to strengthen documentation and knowledge production on election, participation, and accountability, which should contribute to the wider aim of institutionalising accountability and anti-corruption in Nigeria.”
