Dr. Isiaka Yahaya is the Electoral Administration Expert at ECES Nigeria charged with the general responsibility of supporting delivery of electoral assistance to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) within the context of the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN). His specific responsibilities include providing analytical updates on Nigeria’s political and electoral context for evidence based programming, supporting implementation of project activities and developing periodic reports on its status, carrying out thematic research for development of scientific papers on electoral issues and support to preparation of project proposals.

Before joining ECES, Isiaka worked with the Democratic Governance for Development Project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP/DGD) as the National Media Expert between October 2010 and February 2013 providing media and civic education support to INEC and other electoral stakeholders. In the lead up to the 2011 General Elections, Isiaka organized training workshops on Conflict Sensitive Election Reporting for over 300 journalists across the six geo political zones including 50 members of INEC press corps, facilitated the publication of the INEC Media Guide for Election Coverage, organized consultative meetings with Media Owners, Gatekeepers and Associations, and supervised the setting up and operations of six media centers across the country.

For the 2015 Election, Isiaka was the Assistant Political Analyst at the European Union Election Observation Mission (EUEOM) from January to April 2015, providing political and security updates to the mission on a daily basis drawing from his theoretical knowledge and vast experience of Nigerian history and politics. His support was useful in responding to the dynamics of the political environment in the period leading to the 2015 election and establishing and maintaining contacts with key electoral stakeholders.  

Isiaka had worked with the Federal Government of Nigeria for over two decades and rose to the senior position of Deputy Director of Public Affairs at the National Population Commission in 2009, in which capacity he supervised the implementation of nation-wide advocacy and publicity programmes for population censuses, and participated in managing the political sensitivity and conflict mitigation of  Nigerian censuses through top level engagements with key stakeholders at national and sub national levels.  

Dr. Yahaya holds a Bachelor of Science degree in International Studies from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria as well as Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Political Science from University of Ibadan, Nigeria.