The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) is the foremost  independent civil society election observation organization in Nigeria.  Established in 1998 as a non-profit  organization, the TMG now has 400 member organizations committed to the  entrenchment of democracy in Nigeria after more than 30 years of repressive  military rule. The organization seeks to secure the  highest standards in the administration of elections in Nigeria by ensuring  that the election management body and the electorates carry out their responsibilities  during elections in accordance with the Law and internationally recognized  standards for free and fair elections. It also seeks to ensure that good  governance is entrenched in Nigeria through responsible leadership. To  do these, it conducts civic and voter education to enlighten Nigerians about  their civic/ voting rights and responsibilities and implements a well  coordinated election monitoring programme to ensure that elections are  conducted under a free and fair atmosphere.

Following its pioneering efforts in  educating and mobilizing Nigerians to participate in the electoral process and  ensuring that the 1999 elections succeeded, the organization won the coveted  "Democracy Award” given by the Washington-based National Endowment for  Democracy (NED) in May 1999. In August 2009, TMG was given a recognition Award  by the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru.

Membership of the organization is open only to civil society groups with  a proven commitment to the growth and sustenance of democracy in Nigeria. From  a modest beginning of just above 50 civil society organizations in 1998, TMG’s  membership has grown to over 300, principally of civil society organizations  with strong affiliation to people at the grassroots and spread across all  states and geo-political zones of Nigeria.

TMG’s Mission
            The mission of the group is To promote the development  and practice of democratic values and to monitor democratic institutions and   the electoral process.

TMG’s Aims and Objectives
            The aims and  objectives of the group’s work include the following:

           
• To develop integrity  in the electoral process by monitoring and reporting on the prosecution of the  political programme;
               
         
• To observe and  monitor the conduct of elections in Nigeria;
             
         
• To promote  accountability, transparency and responsiveness among political leaders and in  the public sector;
         
• To encourage and  promote participation of citizens especially of women and other marginalized or  vulnerable groups in the political process;
         
• To assist in  capacity building for member organizations;
         
• To provide civic  education and democratic capacity building for public institutions;
         
• To encourage wider  dissemination of voter education materials;
         
• To advocate and  campaign for the promulgation of human rights-compliant and people oriented  legislation
         

To achieve its set goals and objectives, TMG  carries out the following activities: civic and voter education programmes,  election monitoring, publication of reports on the conduct of elections and  other activities in the electoral process, conducting research, holding  conferences, seminars and training workshops. As part of the desire to ensure  accountability in governance, TMG is seeking to implement a project under its  post-election programme that will create the means for citizen’s to make input  in policies and legislation through their representatives as well as monitor  the implementation of government programmes in Nigeria.      More