FCT, Abuja – Ahead of the 2023 General elections, Yiaga Africa is set to partner with the National Orientation Agency (NOA) to intensify voter education campaigns, especially on educating citizens on locating their polling units before election day.
This was made known in a statement made available to calabargistblog.com.ng on Wednesday, February 8 by Yiaga Africa’s media officer, Moshood Isah.
Source: Twitter
As contained in the statement, Yiaga Africa’s board and management, led by its board member Ezenwa Nwagwu paid an advocacy visit to the Director General of the Agency in Abuja.
During the visit, the Director General of the agency, Dr Garba Abari, said the partnership was necessitated due to the need for citizens to be further educated on locating their polling units after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) relocated some voters to new polling units.
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He said:
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“Yiaga Africa’s work brings a great value to what the NOA is doing”.
According to Dr Abari, only a proper synergy between government agencies and Civil Society Organisations will help promote credible elections.
He said both NOA and Yiaga Africa should always explore areas of collaboration, saying the effort to deepen democracy is for all Nigerians. He further reiterated that conducting peaceful and credible elections is for the benefit of all Nigerians.
Also speaking during the visit, Yiaga Africa’s Director of Programs, Cynthia Mbamalu, said the partnership with the agency is crucial at this point considering its mandate of citizens’ enlightenment and voter education. She said:
“Considering that elections are a heated period of divisive campaigns, the NOA plays an essential role in inspiring the spirit of National unity.”
According to her, Yiaga Africa has invested in promoting citizens’ oversight in the electoral process through the deployment of statistics and technology, saying the impact of fake news is dangerous in the electoral process.
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Thus, “on election day, Yiaga Africa’s WatchingTheVote will deploy the Parallel Vote Tabulation methodology to provide accurate and timely information in the electoral process, saying the organization has been observing the pre-election environment since November 2022 while providing information on the activities of election stakeholders like the National Orientation Agency and the electoral commission.
In his remark, Board member Ezenwa Nwagwu commended the agency’s effort to promote citizens’ participation in the democratic process.
He said, “the intervention of NOA has increased citizens’ patriotic consciousness”, saying this flows from the ideological background of the Director General.
He said consolidating Nigeria’s democracy is not a tea party, and the agency is an essential partner, and that’s why Yiaga Africa embedded NOA in its partnership drive.
Source: calabargistblog.com.ng
