The Executive Director, Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa, PAACA, Ezenwa Nwagwu, says Nigeria’s electoral system has recorded remarkable progress despite the deficiencies witnessed in the 2023 general election.
Nwagwu stated this in Awka, Anambra State capital, during a one-day citizens town hall meeting on electoral reform, supported by McArthur Foundation to popularize electoral knowledge across the country in a manner that allows citizens to contribute meaningfully to the growth of democracy in the country.
According to him, “Election is a law guided activity and it is incorrect for stakeholders to talk about election and electoral process without having a good knowledge of the laws.
“We put this project together because we found that a lot of people who talk about elections are simply ignorance parading as authority. Presenters or radio and television with their guests often times spread ignorance because they have no knowledge of the law that guides electoral process”.
“We want to bridge that gap and the first thing to do is to popularize the legal framework for elections. We will give you the full and abridge copy of the Electoral Act of 2022 in electronic form. This will be replicated in all the 36 states of the federation”.
Nwagwu argued that despite all the shortcomings with the electoral process, the nation has made tremendous progress. Nigeria has made remarkable progress in its electoral process. Whatever was not right with the last general election cannot invalidate that. However, we will also gather your opinion on what can be done to better the process and we are going to be working to get a mindset shift.
In his goodwill message, the Director, National Orientation Agency in Anambra State, Mr Edozie Ajaegbu, represented by Mr Ignatius Obiora, lauded the organizers for gathering critical stakeholders to collate their ideas and contributions for improved electoral processes.
“The process has progressively improved in Nigeria since 2019. However, quality of governance is still poor in Nigeria. Improvement in the electoral process is capable of deepening good governance, Ajaegbu said while the President, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Anambra State Chapter, Chief Festus Odegba, represented by the Secretary, Chief Samuel Nweke, stressed the need to educate Nigerians on the electoral process.
“When people are generally ignorant of the electoral process, they are not likely to contribute to its success. We must educate all Nigerians to understand their civic responsibilities and perform them effectively”.
The National Vice President of Anambra State Association of Town Unions, ASATU, Hon. Ikechukwu Offorkansi, strongly recommended that political offices be made unattractive. “It is only then that we will be able to produce servant leaders. What we have now are politicians desperate to enrich themselves at the expense of the citizens. That is why they can do and spend anything to get to power”.
For his part, a media practitioner, Franklin Ebuka, identified ignorance as the biggest challenge confronting the nation’s electoral system. “If we able to cure ignorance, address the attitudinal problem on the part of the citizens as well as sanitize our party system, we shall get our electoral system right while we reap the dividends of democracy”.
During panel discussion, Dr Dennis Ekemezie called for deliberate effort to restore confidence in the electoral process through strict adherence to extant laws, while and Dr Ego Uzoezie, a former Provost of the State College of Education, Nsugbe and commissioner for Women Affairs, stressed the need to accommodate more women in the political space of the country.
