Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support the conduct of the Nigerian general election in March 2015.

The Foreign Secretary said on 8 February, the Nigerian people have the right to credible, peaceful and transparent elections and it is important the elections go ahead without any further delay on 28 March. We urge all parties to honour their commitments to prevent violence before, during and after the elections.

We continue to support Nigeria’s Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) to deliver the elections. Over 80% of Permanent Voter Cards have now been collected and field tests of the card readers were broadly successful. This is testament to the positive advances that INEC have made, under the leadership of Professor Jega, to enable the successful delivery of the elections.