Ahead the 2027 general elections, the Kukah Centre has designed a Political Party Management Toolkit (PPMT) that will provide a guideline for existing and emerging political parties towards managing the political party system in the country.
The Governance and Elections Administration short term expert of the centre, Wilson Manji, said the essence of PPMT is to also provide guidelines on how political parties are formed and how they transform from an association to a political party.
Wilson who noted this on Tuesday in Abuja at the validation workshop with stakeholders on the Political Party Management Toolkit (PPMT), organised by the Kukah Centre and supported by the European Union support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN).
He said, ” When it comes to managing a political party, having a well-defined framework , it can help in streamlining operations, improve efficiency, and ensure effective decision-making mechanisms.
“This framework is designed to serve as a barest irreducible standard for setting up and effectively managing political parties and associations, ” he said.
He further explained PPMT will also ensure that they comply with regulatory or legal framework and how they manage their membership drive and ideology in which they have been formed and is better promoted in the Nigerian society .
The Executive Director, The Kukah Centre, Fr Atta Barkindo said the reforms to democracy is a little bit strange to people because is not a natural form of governance in Nigeria .
He said there is the need to understand our social, economic and traditional context of Nigeria and the need to see how they can adopt to PPMT to every political party .
While reacting, the Inter- Party Advisory Council (IPAC) National Organising Secretary and Team Lead, Technical Working Group, Egbeola Wale Martins said certain things need to be addressed that will expect a radical change .
He said there is need to address transparency processes in political parties because they deliberately leave the loopholes in the system, so that it can be manipulated .
He said the best that can be done going forward is to embark on advocacy and see how political parties can be supported in pushing electoral bills.
” Transmission of electronic results should be made compulsory and encourage Nigerians to come out to vote and strengthen political parties .
“We must ensure that we think with critical components to strengthen institutions,” he said.
Also, an Indepent National Electoral Commission (INEC) official, Nkechi Abuh said alot of things need to be done inwardly to verify political parties in the country.
” When we try to verify some political parties, alot of things go wrong at the point of transition,” she said .
She said members of political parties need to screen their constitution and understand it so as to serve the people.
