By Palma Ileye
Director General, National Orientation Agency, NOA, Dr. Garba Abari has expressed confidence that the 2023 General Elections will hold as scheduled, despite the prevailing socio-economic challenges in the nation.
Abari gave this assurance in Abuja while receiving a delegation from Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement, Africa, YIAGA Africa, led by Director of Programmes, Barr. Cynthia Mbamalu on a working visit, stressing that it is in the larger interest of all Nigerians for the elections to hold as planned.
He noted that the collection of Permanent Voters Cards, PVCs, over, the issue of migration of Polling Units has become a serious and trending issue requiring urgent and robust sensitization across the country.
He said only proper synergy between government and civil society will suffice to adequately sensitize citizens because of the many spaces in the country that were hard to reach with communication technologies.
He therefore pledged that NOA will work with YIAGA and other willing organizations to ensure effective community based sensitization of voters in their respective local dialects to ensure they can easily identify their Polling Units ahead of the elections and avoid disenfranchisement.
Earlier, Mbamalu and the YIAGA team intimated the NOA Director General of their election sensitization and monitoring programmes, including the Election Results Analysis Dashboard, ERAD, the Election Manipulation Risk Index, EMRI and Watching the Vote which will be deploying about 3014 observers on Election Day.
She however noted the need for massive national campaign to help the electorate locate and confirm their Polling Units and requested NOA’s intervention with translation of Polling Unit sensitization materials in local languages.
Other members of the YIAGA delegation on the visit were the Executive Director, Mr. Samson Itodo and a Board Member, Mr. Ezenwa Nwangwu.
