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From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has advised Nigerian youths to ensure that they translate their social media revolution into active participation in politics and voting during the forthcoming 2023 general elections.
INEC Director, Voter Education and Publicity (VEP), Ayodele Aluko, threw the challenge at the youths during voter registration campaign in Abuja on Tuesday, lamenting that despite making up 51 per cent of the over 84 million registered voters in the 2019 general elections, less than than the number of youths eventually voted.
Speaking at the event for continuous voter registration (CVR) campaign tagged; Vote Count 2 Programme, organised by INEC in conjunction with the European Union (EU) in Abuja, Aluko further observed that Nigerian youths are only active on social media when it comes to election activities.
The director described the turnout of prospective voters at the six-day voter concert programme as encouraging, confirming that the commission had expected massive turnout on the first two days of the exercise.
“We are seeing this as a positive development. Many people are interested in voting, and so I will enjoin you people to help pass the message to Nigerians to get their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs).
“If you already have yours already, keep them safe so that on election day you can bring it out and vote. In 2019, 51 per cent out of over 84 million registered voters are youths. So they should not just engage on social media postulations, get involved, get your PVC and vote in the elections,” Aluko charged them.
Similarly, INEC Resident Electoral commissioner (REC) Yahaya Bello, used the opportunity to defend the decision of the commission to end the registration exercise on June 30, announcing that it will help the commission print the PVCs.
He disclosed that more than 50 registration machines and 150 staff have been deployed for the exercise explaining that CVR exercise is still going on simultaneously in the remaining five Area Councils in the territory.
He added that the concert was a special programme in conjunction with the European Union to further sensitise the people.
While maintaining that the CVR exercise would end on June 30, Bello explained that the PVC would not be immediately ready for collection as it would have to undergo some processes.
“Ending the registration exercise on June will help us commence the process of printing the PVCs which the owners will continue to collect till early next year,” he said.
Executive Director, YIAGA Africa, Samsom Itodo, corroborated INEC’s assertion that only 28 per cent of Nigerian youths voted in the 2019 presidential election while 29 per cent voted for the governorship.
Itodo stated that the Lagos concert of the programme recorded over 11, 000 registrants, adding, “we expecting are more in Abuja.”
“Notable Nigerian celebrities are involved in the exercise because we want to speak to Nigerian youths in the language they will understand. Nigerian youths understand the language of music, Nigerian youths understand the language of technology,” he quipped.
European Union representative, Omowuni Laolu, equally regretted that the high number of youths in the country does not translate to participation in the elections.
He explained that the EU’s involvement in the exercise is to connect the youths with the nation’s elector process, stressing: “EU has been a major partner within Nigeria to deepen the electoral process. We are not partisan. When we carried out such campaign in 2018 on the campuses, over 25 million registered. We want to expand it this year. Youth should get involved, go and get your PVCs,” he pleaded.
