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For Nigeria to
make any meaningful headway, the electorate must learn to hold those in
public office accountable for their stewardship, Speaker of the House
of Representatives, Oladimeji Bankole said yesterday in Kaduna.

Speaking on
effective representation at an event organised by the Nigeria Textile
Workers Union, Mr Bankole said the electorate deserves blame for not
holding their representatives responsible for the state of affairs and
the lack of delivery of the dividends of democracy and good governance.

“Despite the
foundation laid by the nation’s founding fathers, those who came behind
have eroded the good works they did, hence the need for Nigerians to
rise for the making of a new Nigeria,” he said.

Chairman of INEC,
Attahiru Jega, who spoke on ‘Labour Partnership for Free and Fair
Election’, pointed out that labour has a vital role to play for our
nation to get credible, free and fair elections.

“If labour
succeeds in positively mobilising Nigerian workers to actively and
enthusiastically participate in the unfolding process, if labour
succeeds in enlightening workers to decently and with uttermost
integrity discharge their civic duties in the electoral process, the
commitment of INEC to conduct free, fair and credible 2011 will be
substantially accomplished,” he said.

He reiterated his
pledge that INEC is committed to guaranteeing the right environment for
achieving the goal and will want Nigerians to judge them by their
openness, fairness, decency and integrity.

He expressed
displeasure that the nation’s democratic history is characterised by
dubious elections on account of deliberate exclusion, rigging of
results in connivance with electoral officials, thuggery and lack of
internal democracy among the political parties.