By Sylvia Kodilichukwu, Enugu
Seeking to mobilize the electorate in massive numbers, a nongovernmental organization (NGO), Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI), has trained a wide variety of groups in the South-East to get them ready to perform their civic responsibilities in 2027.
The groups include journalists, civil society organizations (CSOs), religious bodies, students, community influencers, political party members and other stakeholders.
The purpose of the training was to advance voter participation and encourage peaceful elections.
The capacity building training with the theme ‘Voters Mobilisation and Peace Building Training’, was held at Best Western hotel, Independence Layout, Enugu.
The team lead of KDI, Bukola Idowu, in his presentation, noted that voter participation in Nigeria is seriously declining, stressing the need for mobilisation and also encouraging of eligible voters to come out and participate in the forthcoming general elections.
Idowu said: “In Nigeria today, the most important thing is election, because it is in election that we choose the leader that will manage the resources and govern the people, and Nigerians have not understood the importance of government.
“No one can exist without the government. If you stay away from governance and do nothing about it, you will be ruled by your inferiors.”
However, he pointed out that currently in Nigeria, governance or appointment “is by your efforts or work in the political party, and not by competence”, noting that governance is an important endeavour.
“The ability to recruit a quality leadership is through election. Therefore, the person you elect in government in the next four years will determine how you live, your educational direction, economic direction, taxes, infrastructure and your health.
“The next person that will rule Nigeria will be determined by election. Therefore, the aim of this training is to strengthen stakeholders of the electoral process, equip them with tools and platforms for accessing credible electoral information, build practical strategies for promoting informed voter participation, community-based voter mobilisation and peace building,” he said.
He noted further that the training will equip participants with practical skills to identify conflict drivers, recognize early warning indicators, analyze electoral risks and apply community-based approaches for preventing electoral violence before, during and after election.
Acknowledging that there are barriers, conflict drivers and indicators that influence people’s participation in Nigeria’s elections, such as electoral violence, disenfranchisement, distrust, rigging, intimidation and other election malpractices, yet he encouraged Nigerians not to allow anything to discourage them in carrying out their civic responsibility.
He urged the participants to use their different platforms to educate Nigerians, especially those in their communities,non the need for them to go and register for permanent voter’s card (PVC), ensure they collect their PVCs, cast their votes on election day and monitor the elections from the polling unit, collation center and finally to the judiciary level.
According to the team lead, this effective participation will help Nigerians elect a credible candidates of their choice in 2027.
Participants,nat the end of the training, had a group exercise session where they developed practical, state-level action plans, identified priority audiences, key civic messages, mobilisation channels, peace building intervention, conflict hotspot, implementation timelines and responsibilities.
A journalist who participated in the training, Emma Nweze,nin an interview with People&Politics, described the training as educative.
To him, “it mirrored well what is happening in the political landscape in Nigeria dogged by violence and voter apathy. The bottom line of the training is that if every Nigerian should participate actively, we may have good governance.”
*PHOTO CAPTION: Some of the participants pose for a group photograph.
