Abstract
International donor agencies are international organisations that operate globally and promote certain values such as democracy, good governance, conflict resolution, humanitarian aid and support and overall global agenda. This paper is an attempt to examine the role of international donor agencies in supporting electoral process in Nigeria from 1999 to 2015 particularly the missing links from the previous studies in terms of their activities in the country. The problem is the nature and method of operation of the international agencies in supporting elections in Nigeria which failed to achieve the desired result. The paper used a qualitative method of data analysis where primary and secondary sources were used. The in-depth interview was conducted with some selected senior officials from the international donors in Nigeria, INEC officials and civil societies in addition to academicians. The secondary source was the used of documented data and materials on the subject matter. The data obtained were analysed using simple statistical analysis such as tables and charts. The research discovered that international donor agencies did not impact much on financing of elections in Nigeria as the country is rich enough to finance her elections comfortably but, they contributed in the process through provisions of technical support to INEC staff, civil societies and weak groups but it was not adequate to ensure a transparent election in the country. The research recommends for a holistic approach that will avoid suspicion locally and be a community-driven and indigenous in nature by the donors to ensure success at the local level.
Highlights
Election is one of the major principles of a sound and healthy democratic system anywhere in the world
The primary source of data is an in-depth personal interview with selected informants from five categories; 4 senior officials of international donor agencies residing in Nigeria, 3 senior officials from Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), 3 academicians, 4 members of different civil societies and 5 from some selected groups for focus group discussion in Abuja making a total of 19 informants
The directory presented about 66 of them out of which this study found the most relevant to have included: Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA); Department for International Development (DFID); MacArthur Foundation; Rockefeller Foundation; United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United State Agency for International Development (USAID)
Summary
Election is one of the major principles of a sound and healthy democratic system anywhere in the world. The international donor agencies in collaboration with civil societies have been pushing for electoral support globally and most especially in emerging democracies (Abdullahi, 2015). One of these developing democracies that have been receiving attention and support from international donor agencies for electoral conduct in Nigeria. Nigeria has been receiving foreign democratic assistance since the inception of the Fourth Republic in 1999 through different international agencies (Bariledum et al, 2016) These international organisations are mainly from the US and other developed countries such as UNDP and its umbrella organisations under it. The aim is to proffer alternatives different from the existing ones for an improvement and to provide a missing gap in the existing works in this area of knowledge
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