INEC suffers low esteem over citizens’ distrust of public institutions, high governance costs

…as 83% of Nigerians have no confidence in govt – Survey 

Public perception in Nigeria’s electoral process had remained fragile, at best, since the advent of the Fourth Republic in 1999, but took an all time plunge after the 2023 polls,  which shook the foundations of public confidence for a free and fair election, in spite of  reforms carried out in recent election cycles. This was the  admission of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) recently.

The Commission made this known recently  as it commenced early strategic planning for the 2026 off-cycle elections and the 2027 General Election.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, highlighted  the concern three weeks ago  at a leadership workshop organised by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) for the Commission’s leadership.

Amupitan noted that the workshop was  auspicious,  coming at a period of leadership transition within the Commission, marked up  by changes at the top and the retirement of several directors and senior management staff after years of service.

He emphasized  that institutional continuity must be anchored on clarity of purpose, integrity of leadership and unity of vision, rather than the mere preservation of structures.

As laudable as this ideal is, many feared the electoral body may find it difficult to walk the straight and narrow path given the political milieu.

Professor Abdullahi Aminu, a political scientist told Business Hallmark “That the challenge has always been whether the electoral body has enough guts and gumption to do the right thing, and rid itself of political pressure from the power-that-be,  and claim the high ground.”

Loss of Public Confidence

This view is also supported by public affairs analyst, Otunba Kingsley Adeyemi Adejumo, who noted that political culture in the country is rigged against democratic norms. He told this medium that “it’s like the “iron law of oligarchy,” the culture of rigging and imposition of unpopular candidates at different levels are iron-cast.

“When this government was in opposition it professed democratic norms, best practices, criticized both Jonathan and the previous governments before it , as if it would turn the country to an Eldorado. Look at what is happening now. Everything has been turned upside down, they merely replaced the old political actors, while the suppression of people’s popular and electoral will has become the norm. It’s an iron law of oligarchy.”

That the INEC boss recognized the gap, and distrust of the body by the citizens is good enough, but can he reforms the body to win more confidence?

Generally, Nigerians have lost confidence in governance and public institutions – the judiciary, legislature, and the executive arms.

A Nigeria Social Cohesion Survey 2025 report, conducted by the Africa Polling Institute (API),  revealed gaping  citizens’ distrust and low public confidence in government and public institutions.

According to the  poll about  83 per cent of Nigerians expressed little or no confidence  in the administration of President Bola Tinubu; and 82 per cent  voiced the same sentiments on the National Assembly under the leadership of the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio; and House of Representatives Speaker, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas.

Also, 79 per cent stated  they had little or no confidence  in the judiciary, under the leadership of the CJN, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun.

In comparison with previous editions (2019, 2021, and 2022), the data showed  that citizens’ trust and public confidence were at their lowest ebb.

The API report, further indicated a weak state of social cohesion in Nigeria, with the index revealing 46.8 per cent

More Nigerians in Poverty

According to the survey,  Nigerians now seemed to be joined in shared struggle, especially as it pertained to their everyday lives, and the negative impact of the economic realities, as citizens constantly refer to economic meltdown and harsh living conditions, high costs of transport, and goods and services, as well as the absence  of economic prosperity under the Tinubu economy.

API, with the backing  of Ford Foundation, embarked on  a nationwide Citizens Perception Survey (CPS) to measure the state of social cohesion in Nigeria between January and February 2025.

A total of 5,465 interviews were completed via face-to-face household visits, using the Stratified Random Sampling technique, with citizens aged 15 years and above. The interviews were conducted in five major languages: English, Pidgin, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba; and geographic quotas were assigned to ensure that all states and senatorial districts were proportionately represented in the sample.

Key findings from the 2025 survey revealed that 53 per cent of Nigerians “feel disappointed in Nigeria.”

This is not surprising, according to Dr. Olufemi Omoyele, who expressed frustration at the policies of the President Tinubu administration, which have impoverished the citizens. The government’s economic policies shocked the people from the beginning of the administration.

Nigerians have no access to electricity, potable water, and other life’s essentials. Many people have lost their jobs as multinationals like Procter & Gamble, Diageo, Holcim, and PZ Cussons departed from Nigeria, and smaller firms are folding up by the day, citing the harsh business climate.

“What I find difficult to rationalize is government taxing poverty, unemployment and struggling businesses after it has introduced economic policies that have strangulated them,” Omoyele said.

Experts estimate that about 40 per cent of Nigerian children under five years suffer from stunted growth, and 27 per cent are underweight. UNICEF says Nigerian children suffer from the highest burden of malnutrition in Africa.

The UN lists Nigeria and 12 other countries as major hunger hotspots of the world.

In September 2024, the World Bank Food Security Update Report indicated that the number of people facing acute food shortages in Nigeria increased by 28 per cent in 2023. Some citizens were trampled to death while scrambling for food palliatives in some parts of the country last year.

Aggravating Conditions

Insecurity is high as kidnappers and terrorists have held Nigeria by the jugular. Thousands of citizens have been killed; millions of others have been displaced. Security agencies especially the military have failed to curb the rising and persistent security challenges which prompted the Christmas bombing terrorists in Sokoto by the U.S.

Amid all this, there is no social safety net for Nigerians. The government is far removed from the citizens, who question the whereabouts of the fuel subsidy funds.

This has not stopped government officials from wasting the resources of the country. In 2024, the Presidential Air Fleet added an aircraft for $150 million. The new residence for the Vice-President gulped N21 billion. Frivolous items and expenditures found their way into the budgets high concern over government level of empathy with the people.

The 2026 budget has been mired in controversy over questionable allocations which are clearly slush funds for the APC as elections approach.