PRESIDENT of Ghana and chairman of the  Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS), John Mahama, on Tuesday, said the 2015 general election in Nigeria would serve as a model to many African countries, which aspire for free and transparent elections in the future.

President Mahama stated  this on Tuesday, when he paid a courtesy call on  the chairman of Independent National Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, in Abuja

He pointed out that several African countries going to the polls to elect their leaders this year would  have a lot to learn from the conduct of elections in Nigeria.

According to him, “this year, several other elections are coming up in Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Guinea and I think everybody has been watching, as an example, what is going on in Nigeria here. It sends a very good signal to other countries holding elections this year in the ECOWAS sub-region.”

He commended INEC for adopting the use of technology such as the card reader machine in the conduct of the elections.

“I think there is a lot many countries can learn from you in terms of the roll out of technology, provision of voter identification cards and the equipment for reading those cards in terms of authenticating the voters.

“There will always be glitches with technology, but I think this is the first step to go for it and we can continue to improve upon the technology, so that we have smoother elections,” he added.

The Ghanaian president advised Nigerians that irrespective of their political parties, all hands should be on deck to move the country forward.

He also commended President Goodluck Jonathan for his maturity in congratulating General Muhammadu Buhari, even before the result of the election was declared.