The Inter-Party Advisory Council of Nigeria (IPAC) has unveiled an action plan to cover the goals and aspirations of political parties in Nigeria.
The plan, which was unveiled on Wednesday in Abuja, contains actions to be taken to ensure public funding for political parties, among other things.
The event was hosted by the Westminister Foundation for Democracy (WFD) under the Nigeria Open Political Party (NOPP) project.
IPAC is the umbrella body of all the registered Political Parties in Nigeria.
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To ensure the inclusion of all political parties, one of the goals set by the council is the restoration of public funding of political parties through the ongoing amendment of the 1999 Constitution.
“At the end of the constitutional reform committee exercise of the 10th National Assembly, issues related to affirmative action, implementation of Justice Muhammed Uwais electoral reform committee report 2008 and restoration of public funding for registered political parties will be discussed and integrated into the amended constitution,” IPAC said in the document.
The council further said, it “will advocate for the enactment of inclusive electoral laws that guarantee equal opportunities for all political parties to participate in the electoral reform process on issues related to affirmative action, implementation of Justice Muhammed Uwais electoral reform committee report 2008 and restoration of public funding for registered political parties.”
Uwais Committee Report
The panel, led by Justice Muhammadu Uwais, was set up by the administration of Umar Yar’Adua to review Nigeria’s electoral process.
The committee submitted its report in 2008 and among the recommendations was the transfer of the power to appoint INEC board from the president of the country to the National Judicial Council (NJC).
Also, the committee recommended that election petitions should have a time limit even as a Special Electoral Offences Commission is to be set up to try electoral offenders.
However, years later, the government has yet to fully implement the recommendations.
Plan to accelerate political parties’ development
Speaking on the plan, the Chairman of IPAC, Yusuf Dantalle, said the plan would “have a spiral effect in the nation’s democratic space, more importantly, as citizens are facing hard times and disillusioned over economic stagnation, insecurity and lack of confidence in government at all levels.”
He added that the plan would “accelerate political development of the country as members of the Council are leaders of their political parties which produced all the elected public officers.”
End money bags in political parties
In his speech, the former Senate President and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Pius Anyim, said that IPAC, being the umbrella body for all registered political parties in the country, must rise to the challenge and address salient issues in the political party system.
He said the parties must address the hijack of their machinery by “money bags”, usurpation of party leadership powers by government officials, lack of functional register, ethnicity and religion among others.
“These are the challenges and the new leadership of IPAC must rise to the occasion.
“Mr Chairman and your team, you have a lot in your hands to tackle; the journey to deepening democracy is still long and torturous.
“Accordingly, the need to prioritise turnaround reforms in the parties has become inevitable. I, however, feel that with men like the new national leadership IPAC, I am confident that there will soon be light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.
Earlier, the Country Director of WFD, Adebowale Olorunmola, said that Nigeria cannot address “money politicians” without the support of the political parties.
Mr Olorunmola said that WFD will continue to support political parties in the country to implement the plan.
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