The Albino Foundation Public Notice
Angela Atabo
Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) has inaugurated a report on inclusivity in Nigeria’s elections, proffering ways to enhance participation of marginalised groups in politics ahead of the 2023 polls.
Mr Clement Nwankwo, Executive Director, PLAC made this known on Thursday in Abuja, at a Roundtable on Inclusive Elections and presentation of a study by PLAC on the subject in Nigeria.
According to Nwankwo, the step is necessary because Nigeria suffers from declining civic participation in elections, with women, youth and Persons With Disability (PWDs) being the most affected.
He said that the Civil Society Organisation(CSO) convened the National Roundtable on Inclusive Elections to develop a shared understanding of the issue of declining civic engagement in Nigeria.
According to him, it is also to agree on best practices for inclusive elections, ahead of the 2023 General Elections.
“I think that we all have to capture everyone that no one be on the fringes of governance; an actual system is that quest for inclusivity.
“There is a lot to do, this has been a very long struggle for a lot of us ,unfortunately, the country has been too slow catching up with the rest of the world in terms of inclusive participation in politics
“So, I think it is about time that we all work to increase and improve the participation of all segments of society as we go into the 2023 elections.
“The rest of the world has left us behind, women, young persons, persons with disabilities have a lot of stake in all of the elections.
“Therefore, this election is not one that we should all sit and watch, I think it is the election that we should all feel very concerned about the direction the country is going.’’
Nwankwo urged all stakeholders to work to bring Nigeria out from where it was to a place where everyone would be carried along in politics.
Mr Dayo Olaide, Deputy Director of MacArthur Foundation, also spoke at the event.
He said that it was important that laws function and work for the people, to provide for the actual participation of people with disabilities as mandated.
“We need to keep pushing, push to get them also recognised and given the right place for equal participation, representation, and democratic processes.
“`As the electoral management is charged with the responsibility of organising, conducting elections, to be transparent and accountable ,we all have an important role to track these laws to ensure that those provisions are implemented.
“There are several meetings on strategising on how to ensure that the National Assembly revisits the gender bills, we must partner with them to ensure also that the bills that the Senate has passed we can get the House of Representatives to do the same.’’
Mr Collins Ogbu, a member of the research team, while presenting the report, said that the trend of exclusive political participation in Nigeria could be reversed with deliberate action.
Ogbu said that participation of all citizens in formal political processes was fundamental for democracy and election management bodies.
He said that stakeholders have crucial roles to play in empowering marginalised persons to participate in political processes.
Ogbu said that Nigeria’s elections still exclude significant proportions of the population, including women, youths and PWDs.
He said that the level of women participation in government, for instance, was low.
In the 2019 elections, the number of women elected in the National Assembly decreased from 22 to 13 in the House of Representatives.
“This work is a veritable attempt targeted at examining the efforts of electoral stakeholders towards an improved election administration and consolidation of the democratic process in Nigeria.
“A core objective of the study is to promote social inclusion and citizens’ awareness of the electoral process.
“There is no gainsaying that the advantages of involving all individuals and CSO in policy formulation process ,development of polices and effort geared towards inclusion will reflect the aspirations of citizens.
“One of the major ways of doing this is to allow inclusive electoral processes that will fundamentally impact on the quality of participation by marginalised groups such as women, PWDs and IDPs.’’
Ogbu highlighted the need for government to partner with CSOs to connect with citizens and stakeholders to promote inclusive political participation and representation .
He said that the study also called for greater support for special measures to include more women and PWDs in political parties and in the Nigerian legislature, and increase political participation.
Ogbu called for the development of legal and policy framework that would see to the inclusion of marginalised groups in the electoral process.
He said that CSOs should continue to provide technical assistance to government agencies on implementation global best practices.
Ogbu said that there was need for INEC to create a flexible data management system for the teeming IDPs in crisis states to avoid their exclusion in politics.
He said that the study urged INEC to make assistive devices for PWDs in polling units available and train its staff to use them.
Ogbu said that there should be sanctions where staff fail to use them.
He said the study also recommended that the National Assembly should increase its oversight responsibility to ensure that monies budgeted for inclusive elections were used appropriately, among others.
(NAN)
