As Nigeria marks its 66th Independence anniversary on October 1, the chairman of the Northern Christian Association (NCA), Rev. John Joseph Hayab, has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct credible and transparent elections next year.

Hayab said Nigeria had recorded some progress since independence but ought to have achieved more, attributing part of the country's development challenges to poor leadership and weaknesses in the electoral process. In an interview with journalists in Kaduna, the NCA chairman said Nigeria's democracy could produce better governance when citizens were able to freely choose their leaders and hold them accountable for their performance in office.

"At 66, we're supposed to have made more progress than this. Well, we've made some progress, we must not also shy away from acknowledging some success," he said.

The cleric added that strengthening accountability in the electoral process was necessary to make elected officials more responsive to the people.

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According to him, elected officials would be more conscious of their responsibilities if they knew that the citizens could vote them out of office when they failed to perform.

The NCA chairman also challenged INEC officials, including the chairman, commissioners and ad hoc staff, to conduct elections with credibility, honesty and transparency.

He urged electoral officials not to allow themselves to be used to manipulate elections, saying they were Nigerians who would continue to live with the consequences of their actions after leaving office.

Hayab also appealed to Nigerians to overcome voter apathy and participate actively in elections, saying citizens should not stay away from polling units because of fears that their votes would not count.

He argued that low voter turnout could create room for electoral manipulation, explaining that when only a small proportion of registered voters participated, it became easier to manipulate the unused votes.

The NCA chairman also called on political parties and candidates to focus their campaigns on issues affecting Nigerians rather than violence, personal attacks, ethnicity, religion or regional sentiments.

"Politics is supposed to be a time for knowledge gathering. We want to see people who understand how they can solve our banking problem, our agricultural problem, our educational problem, our aviation problem, our maritime problem," he said.

He urged political parties to present clear programmes and allow voters to assess candidates based on their plans to address the country's challenges.

Hayab said Nigeria's development would also improve if citizens began to see themselves primarily as Nigerians rather than through religious, ethnic and regional identities.

Ahead of the 2027 general elections, he urged Nigerians to participate in the electoral process and assess candidates based on their programmes, records and capacity to address the challenges confronting the country.