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Table of Contents

About this Report

Conference Agenda

Session 1: Assessing Elections: How Free and Fair?

Session 2: Prospects for Democracy in Nigeria

Luncheon Address

Conference Panelists

Award Presentation Agenda

Remarks by Congressman Benjamin Gilman

Award Presentation by Congressman Donald Payne

Award Acceptance Speech by Clement Nwankwo

The presidential election held in Nigeria on 27 February 1999 was a milestone in the history of Africa's most populous country. Though marred by significant irregularities, the election nonetheless marked a critical step forward in a country that only months earlier had been locked into a hopeless spiral of repression and violence. This advance would not have been possible without the extraordinary work of the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), the national coalition of 63 nongovernmental organizations that mobilized civil society to defend Nigerian democracy.

The TMG trained and deployed nearly 11,000 Nigerians across the country to observe the voting on election day and to curb malpractices. It also monitored the process during the preelection period and organized campaigns of civic education to motivate and mobilize citizens to participate in the voting.

The TMG's internationally acclaimed efforts were actually a continuation of the democratic struggle that its member organizations --;the Nigerian human rights community and other prodemocracy groups-- ;waged relentlessly and without violence, often in complete obscurity and in the face of harsh repression, against successive military dictatorships. Among these groups are the Constitutional Rights Project (CRP), whose executive director, Clement Nwankwo, chairs the TMG's Coordinating Committee, on behalf of which he will receive the NED's Democracy Award; and the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO), headed by Abdul Oroh, who is also with us at this award ceremony. The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is privileged to have worked with and supported these and many other brave prodemocracy groups during the long years of democratic resistance.

Their struggle is far from over. If Nigeria is to meet the awesome challenge of building a democratic system that is lawful, just, transparent, and genuinely inclusive of all ethnic and religious groups, it will depend in no small measureon the continued work of the TMG and the thousands of devoted Nigerian democrats who have already sacrificed so much for the cause of freedom. In recognition of their historic contribution to democracy and their unwavering determination to build a democratic future, the NED is proud to present its 1999 Democracy Award to Nigeria's Transition Monitoring Group.