Fred Itua, Abuja
Barely four months to the February 16, 2019 presidential elections in the country, a non-partisan group, ONE, with over 2.4 million members in Nigeria, has launched a #VoteYourFuture campaign in Abuja.
The Country Director of the group, Serah Makka-Ugbabe, while speaking at the one-day youth summit, said the #VoteYourFuture campaign is aimed at reinforcing the fact that the act of voting or not voting affects individual’s future.
She said in 2015, half of the voters who turned out to vote were youths with 49.6 percent, adding that “the youth who are between 18-35 years make up, at least, 60 percent of the population” and lamented that the youths are not proportionally represented.
READ ALSO: The Moghalu challenge
Ugbabe said: “It affects the future of your family, your children and can have impact on your advancement. Not only that, how you vote matters. How you select the candidates is of critical importance. It is important that candidates know the issue that affects Nigeria and, most importantly, how to solve them.
“Candidates might not have all the answers, but, they must know how to get the answers and they must demonstrate the knowledge when we, ordinary citizens, ask them questions. As citizens, we also have a responsibility to understand the issues that affect our community, states and nation. Only when we exercise this responsibility will our votes move us towards the Nigeria of our dreams.”
The country director noted that individual voting decision in Nigeria have historically been motivated by religion and ethnicity, but that the 2015 elections marked a deviation from the trend, as many Nigerians crossed tribal faith lines to vote, based on issues that mattered to them, such as security and corruption.