As another election year draws closer, the need for awareness creation and voter education that will enable an increased political participation amongst citizens across the country has been emphasised.
This formed the core of discussion by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) and the Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF) in collaboration with the INEC Electoral Institute (TEI) during a public presentation of two publications titled: Civic and Voter Education Programmes towards the 2019 General Election and Nigeria’s 2019 General Elections: Voter Education from A Gender Perspective in Abuja.
The Programmes Manager of the NWTF Loius Chinedu, explained that the report is an aspect of the EU-support to democratic governance in Nigeria aimed at contributing to strengthening the electoral process for marginalised groups.
According to her, there was the need to provide a futuristic strategies for stakeholders to conduct voter education programmes in the build-up to the 2023 general elections as well as other off-cycle elections.
She added that this strategy will go a long way to ensuring that marginalized groups such as women, youths and People With Disabilities (PWD’s) are enlightened and encouraged to vote in the upcoming election.
“We are working to support female leadership and participation as well as addressing the growing concerns about the gender imbalance in elective and appointive positions,” she said.
The country representative of WFD Adebowale Olorunmola, on his part maintained that voter education can help the electoral process and enhance citizens participation including women and PWD’s.
“This report is informed by the decreasing turnout of electorates at elections in 2011 and 2015, which also reduced further in 2019.
“It is a call to action for every stakeholders to promote voter education and turnout because the health of every democracy is determined by the level of the involvement of the citizens and that’s why we have come up with some findings and recommendations that will be useful for advancing the electoral process,” he said.Olorunmola further emphasised the need for a proactive implemention of the recommendations contained in the research report, stressing also the need to reach out to young Nigerians particularly first time voters to get them informed, understand the process and build their trust in the process to let them know that their votes count.
In his remarks, the Director General (DG) of The Electoral Institute (TEI) Dr. Sa’ad Umar Idris, said Civic Voter Education (CVE) is an important public intervention and engagement strategy, adding that it mobilises the electorates to understand their rights and responsibilities in a democratic dispensation.
