International Development Partners' Assistance to Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the 2011 and 2015 Elections: The Unexplored Discourse

Studies on international development partners' assistance to electoral management bodies (EMBs) in the conduct of elections in the world have demonstrated that it is characterised by a myriad of constraints and impacts. This phenomenon has only received a broad-brush overview in the literature, leaving unscratched, unexplored areas in the body of literature, especially in developing countries like Nigeria. This paper analysed these areas of the international development partners'assistance to Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the 2011 and 2015 elections. The paper made an important contribution to the literature on international development partners'assistance to electoral management bodies, particularly Nigeria's INEC as it demonstrated that the modusoperandi of these supports to INEC has not manifested in a highly effective electoral management institution. Some of the unexplored areas that constitute problems are the international agencies' support to only INEC, with less emphasis on other stakeholders, and their inability to control corruption within the electoral commission. Furthermore, the assistance is yet to improve the INEC's handling of transportation, technological and language difficulties that the commission is confronted withduring elections in Nigeria. The paper employed a secondary source of data collection and used a qualitative method of data analysis. For a free and fair electoral administration in the country, the paper proposed a more expanded role for the donor agencies in the course of their support to INEC to assuage the yearnings of grassroots citizens and other non-INEC stakeholders in Nigeria.