A nationwide campaign on voter education has been launched by the African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for African Development (AUDA-NEPAD) ahead of this year’s general election. The campaign aims to discourage vote buying and to promote free and fair elections as well as post-election crisis management.
The National Coordinator/CEO of AUDA-NEPAD/African Peer Review Mechanism, Princess Gloria Akobundu, made the announcement during the Nationwide Workshop on Effective Implementation of the National Programme of Action/Sensitization and Awareness Campaign on Violence-Free Election.
Akobundu emphasized that this move is part of the mandate and framework of the National Programme of Action (NPOA) for AUDA-NEPAD/APRM. The workshop is considered timely and critical towards the upcoming general elections in Nigeria. Its aim is to raise awareness about democracy management and create a positive mindset among all Nigerians in the electoral process.
According to Akobundu, the African Union (AU) launched the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) in 2002 to address the recurring problem of electoral violence and conflicts within the framework of the implementation of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). She cited reports from the Impact Development Initiative, which noted that electoral violence has been on the rise in Nigeria with a recorded 339 incidents in 2022 alone, resulting in 165 fatalities.
The Director, Planning Research and Statistics, Akeem Akande, represented Akobundu during the workshop. The event brought together several stakeholders, including electoral experts, scholars, INEC officials, and security agencies, to brainstorm strategies for sensitizing the citizenry and ensuring violent-free elections in Nigeria.
The workshop aims to ensure that Nigerian youths are not turned into mere political tools by politicians for electoral violence in the 2023 elections. With the elections around the corner, all stakeholders must stand united against all forces of violence and hate speech, and use their votes wisely to elect credible leaders through peaceful, free, and fair polls, noted Dabiri. The success of this objective will contribute to making Nigeria a great nation.
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