An anti corruption organization, Follow the Money on Saturday called on politicians, political parties and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to give priority attention to voter education, in order to improve Nigeria’s electoral process ahead of the 2023 elections.
Speaking during an interview in Okene, Kogi State, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Connected Development, Hamzat Bala Lawal who was on an election monitoring tour, said that the negligence of the importance of voter education had been responsible for violence and a bulk of void votes during past elections.
He said the timely signing of the Electoral Act as amended should be effectively explored to avoid a fire brigade approach in some of the country’s political undertakings, especially as regards to voter education
Educating potential voters, he said, is however not INEC’s responsibility alone; political parties, civil societies, religious and traditional institutions should also collaborate with the electoral body in this regard.
Lawal who has over the years campaigned and tracked the use of illicitly acquired funds to run election, appealed to the federal government to fund INEC and other organizations in the discharge of their duties, especially aggressive voter education campaigns, from the grassroots level upwards.
According to Lawal, the process of complaints where one’s name is omitted, the dangers of violence and rigging, how to protect votes and how to make votes count generally will be avoided if the issue of voter education is taken seriously.
While urging the Federal Government to put every measure in place for smoother elections, Mr. lawal called on the National Assembly to be futuristic about the laws they make as he raised concerns on some areas that were not considered in the recently signed electoral law create which has limited the number of people to participate in party primaries
It was the opinion of Lawal that when people are fully educated, it will go a long way in curtailing violence and bringing about credible elections, as he called on the economic and financial crimes commission to monitor the source and process of spending of politicians and political parties.