How EU, Partners Drive Youth Participation in Electoral Processes
CICERO/REPORT
Ugo Aliogo examines the efforts the European Union is making to ensure that Nigeria improves and strengthens her democracy, especially in the conduct of a free, fair, transparent, credible and peaceful elections since 1999
When John Lewis, the late civil rights activist and member of the United States House of Representatives for Georgia said: “The vote is precious. It is the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democratic society, and we must use it,” he must have been thinking of how to convince the citizens of the world, especially young people spread across on the potency of their votes, and the need for them to exercise it in order to demand and shape the future they expect to see.
Since Nigeria joined ranks with the committee of democratic nations in 1999, policy wonks, public affairs analysts, and experts have unanimously agreed that the ballot box has proven to be more powerful than coercion, violence or the even bullet, especially for Nigeria that has exited a military era.
However, after six presidential elections, the country’s nascent democratic electoral process continues to grapple with diverse challenges, including but not limited to inter and intra political parties conflicts, electoral reform divides, marginalisation of vulnerable groups, fiscal accountability and transparency, ideological differences, inadequate civil engagements, etc. Chief among these challenges is the lack of engagement and full participation by the citizens, especially the youth with the electoral process.
According to data from the INEC, turnout for general election has not crossed the 50 per cent threshold since 2015. Furthermore, while 51.11 per cent of registered voters are young people between the ages of 18 and 35 years, youth turnout for the 2019 election was fixed at 46 per cent.
The apex electoral umpire further noted that the decline in youth participation can be attributed to a number of reasons, including distrust in the electoral process, inaccuracies in the voter register, poor voter mobilisation, threats of violence, bad governance, militarisation of election, amongst other factors. There is therefore a lot of work that needs to be done to reverse this trend and break the cycle of voter apathy.
As the popular saying goes – “a tree cannot make a forest.” Hence, to ensure that Nigeria improves and strengthens its democracy, especially and more specifically in the conduct of a free, fair, transparent, credible and peaceful elections, the European Union (EU) has been supporting the country since 1999 to achieve these, and more. Whilst the European Union has launched successive democratic governance programmes since the return to Democratic rule in 1999, its current flagship programme launched in 2017.
Through the European Union Funded Programme “Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria” (EU SDGN), the EU has consistently contributed to the reinforcement of democracy in Nigeria through the building of strong, effective and legitimate democratic institutions.
It did this, first through the EU SDGN Phase 1, which was launched and began implementation in 2017 and ended in early 2022. The EU SDGN 1 had five component areas namely – Support for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which was implemented by the European Centre for Electoral Support (ECES); Support for the National Assembly, which was implemented by the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) and Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement (YIAGA); and Support for Political Parties, which was implemented by the Political Party Leadership and Policy Development Centre of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS).
Furthermore, it supported the Media in the electoral process, an intervention implemented by the Institute for Media and Society and the International Press Centre. Finally, it supported civil society organisations in improving the quality of the electoral process, working with a range of organisations including the Albino Foundation, the BBC Media Action, CLEEN Foundation, and the Westminster Foundation for Democracy.
To continue the achievements and build on the successes of the first phase of the EU SDGN, the EU launched the EU SDGN 2 this year to span the next five years.
All these, according to the EU, came with corresponding funding. However, according to the EU, since it began supporting the country in shaping and bolstering its democratic frameworks, over 130 million Euros have been spent from 1999 till date.
The European Union (EU) believes that the youth are a critically important demographic group in the political and governance process of the country. Hence, it is important to get them involved.
Speaking on the EU’s plans to increase young people’s participation in the electoral process of the country, especially in terms of voting in elections, the Delegation of the European Union to the Federal Republic of Nigeria and
ECOWAS’s Programme Manager for Democracy and Rule of Law, Ms Laolu Olawumi, said: “We see that there is that huge disconnect between young people and the political process. We also think that it is not because of a total lack of interest, but because of some degree of distrust in the process. For us at the European Union, youth is at the core of our partnership with Nigeria, and we aim to continue to engage, connect and empower young people in order to increase their contribuition to the development of the country.’
“When you look at what the statistics tell us in terms of the population of young people and how that relates to the participation in the political process in general, youth turnout on election day has been quite low compared to the number of registered voters. If you also then see the trajectory with the ongoing voter registration, you find out that young people between the ages of 18 and 34 constitute more than seventy per cent of newly registered voters. You see people turnup to register, but that does not necessarily translate into political participation and into effective engagement with the political process, so the apathy is there.”
The Youth Vote Count 2.0 campaign is more than a mega music concert, but a non-partisan civic campaign that is designed to bridge the gap in youth participation in electoral processes.
The event will be leveraging the pop culture prevalent among young Nigerians, to raise awareness on the importance of them actively participating in the electoral process, while providing a platform for them to engage the electoral umpire – Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The campaign concert, which is being organised by the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU SDGN), in collaboration with other relevant stakeholders like Yiaga Africa, DAI, is scheduled to hold by 9 am on June 11, 2022, at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), Lagos.
Selected Nigerian celebrities – musicians, comedians, OAPs, social media influencers etc., – will grace the stage with their craft, while lending their voices to encourage the youth to get registered, collect their Permanent Voters Card (PVC), and ensure they come out en masse to vote for the candidates of their choice during the elections, while assuring them that their votes will count.
The musicians expected to perform include: Kizz Daniel, M.I, Teni, Falz, Omawumi, Mayorkun, Waje, Joe Boy, 2Baba, Patoranking, Skiibii, Ashake, Small Doctor, Pasuma and Bella shmurda.
Other celebrities and influencers include: Ufuoma McDermott, Chioma Akpotha, Uti Nwachukwu, Uche Jombo, Lasisi Elenu, Kie Kie, Mr. Macaroni, Real Warri Pikin, Omoni Oboli, Toyin Abraham Ajeyemi, and Broda Shaggi.
A unique feature of the campaign will be that while only a PVC or temporary voters slip will be the entry pass into the venue of the event, those who don’t have their PVC or temporary voters slip will have the opportunity to register at the TBS between June 6th to 11th.
Olawumi said “The idea of Youth Vote Count Campaign was birthed by the EU Delegation in 2018 in the run-up to the 2019 General election to address an important question – how do we increase the participation of young people in democratic process? Leveraging youth pop culture was an obvious answer to this, and so in collaboration with the EU SDGN implementing partners, we began to explore ways to connect youth pop culture, technology and media, with the various centres of power. For us, with the huge entertainment industry that we have, the question became – how do we bring this influence to bear on young people and structure the narrative around political engagement? We have seen some results and feel this is something we can continue to push for. For this reason, the Youth Vote Count is here to stay.
“Another unique attribute of the Youth Vote Count is the bridge it builds between young people and the government. Working with, and for the youth to engage with young people, to create spaces for their voices to be listened to and for their perspectives and ideas to be taking into consideration.”
Olawumi explained that under the first round of the Youth Vote Count Campaign, which was termed as Youth Vote Count 1.0, the entire campaign centered on engagement with university students on campuses across the six geopolitical zones. The plan of the EU and partners is therefore to build on the successes and lessons learnt from the Youth Vote Count 1.0.
“So what we did was to go to these campuses, and organise town hall-style meetings where we got civically conscious entertainers and influencers to come and speak to students. The INEC Chair and the entire leadership of the Commission were also gracious enough to collaborate with us on this. This sort of engagement with the Chair of INEC is something that is unique to this campaign. INEC officials were also on ground to register people.’
“At the end of that process, we had about 25,000 newly registered voters. Unfortunately, we did not track to see whether they all voted on election day, but I think that it was a positive first step to increase young people’s participation in the political process. There is indeed a huge potential.
This was just six universities with limited people. Now imagine going to a place where those who are not in formal education can also participate in the process.”
Concerning what to expect with the launch of the second phase of the EU SDGN and how sustainable it will be, the EU Programme Manager said: “With EU SDGN 2, we are learning very important lessons, and we are taking those lessons and building on the successes we were able to achieve under EU SDGN one. EU SDGN 1 worked across different components and thematic areas in synergy, to drive a common objective. With EU SDGN 2, I think people should expect more of that; targeted advocacy, engagements on key national issues, effective collaboration, and constructive disruptions that will drive change.
“What we are most proud of is that even though the name says EU SDGN, it is 100 per cent Nigerian-driven. You have brilliant minds drawn from different organisations coming together as Nigerians first, and as activists reformists – to contribute to the development of the country. EU SDGN has demonstrated that the solution lies with Nigerians. We want to put our Nigerian implementing partners and stakeholders in the spotlight, and see that they are able to drive change. We encourage others to join us in building a bigger and better Nigeria.
“Our partners are coming up with innovative strategies, especially those that have worked under EU SDGN 1. They are using these to create tightly-woven interventions to achieve our objective under EU SDGN 2, which is to consolidate democracy in Nigeria.’
“With the way the programme is structured, the element of sustainability has remained quite strongly. Even if the EU decides to pull back, those structures will continue to exist and will be reinforced based on all of the hard work our Nigerian partners have done.”
