The Independent National Electoral Commission has said it has addressed the challenges that undermined public confidence in the 2023 presidential election by introducing improvements in its electoral processes ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The commission stated this on Thursday, at the second stakeholders’ roundtable on voter education and youth participation organised by Kimpact Development Initiative under its YERP-Naija project in Abuja.
The Commission’s Deputy Director, Voter Education, Mrs Paula Iwenjiora, addressing the audience, urged young Nigerians to move beyond social media discussions and participate actively in the electoral process, warning that failure to vote would leave decisions about their future in the hands of others.
Iwenjiora, who represented the Director of Voter Education, Mrs Etta-Messi, admitted that the commission’s handling of the 2023 presidential election had contributed to the erosion of public trust.
She explained that the heavy traffic on INEC’s website during the presidential election affected the process, but said improvements were subsequently made during the governorship elections.
“I don’t blame people because we have deficit trust because of what happened the last time. I know everybody blames INEC. It’s okay to blame us, as it were, because we promised; it looks as if we failed in our promise. But you know that in that first election, in 2023, the presidential election, there was so much load on the website.
“So if we didn’t get it right in that presidential election, I think we worked on it to get it right in the second, the gubernatorial election. But, unfortunately, a particular event made people lose hope. But I don’t want people to lose hope,” she said
The INEC official, however, expressed confidence in the commission’s current leadership, saying improvements had been recorded under its chairman, Prof Joash Amupitan (SAN).
“If you have followed this new chairman, who is one year and about 12 days in office now, you can see that he is working very hard with his directors, the national commissioners; you can see them going on tours, you know, he’s talking to us, the staff, every other time, that ‘listen, this thing has to work’,” she said.
She added that the commission had strengthened its voter education activities through campus debates, engagements with civil society organisations, faith-based groups and community-level voter education providers.
Iwenjiora said INEC could not independently reach every community without the support of development partners and other stakeholders.
She particularly commended KDI for supporting voter education initiatives and collaborating with the commission to extend civic awareness to grassroots communities.
“Votes cannot be counted on social media. Your PVCs cannot be counted on social media. If you don’t come out as a youth, if you’re not interested, that’s your future you’re giving over to somebody else,” she said.
The deputy director urged young Nigerians to join political parties, express their views and participate in decisions affecting their communities, rather than leaving political engagement to older generations.
She said, “If you don’t join, if you don’t speak your mind, nobody will know what is and how to represent you. So if you leave the older generation to keep going, they will keep going. But if you don’t come out to challenge it, you will not be represented.”
On concerns about the safety of voters and the possibility of electoral violence, Iwenjiora said INEC was working with security agencies, including the police, military and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, through an inter-agency arrangement.
She explained that security coordination extended from the national level in Abuja to local government areas, with police officers deployed to polling units to respond to incidents.
The official also disclosed that technology, including drones, would be deployed to capture electoral offences such as vote-buying.
“As our chairman said, there will be technology involved to capture people with the drones, people who are doing vote-buying, so that if you’re captured, you cannot deny it, as your picture will show,” she said.
On complaints about difficulties in collecting PVCs, Iwenjiora explained that the cards were being distributed in batches, particularly those belonging to new registrants and people who registered in previous exercises.
She said the absence of a voter’s card at a particular local government office did not necessarily mean that it would not be issued, urging registrants to continue checking with the commission.
Drawing from her experience working at the local government level, she said many registered voters often failed to collect their cards despite repeated sensitisation efforts by INEC.
She recalled that the commission had to engage traditional rulers, community development leaders, politicians, churches and mosques to encourage collection of PVCs.
Earlier, the Executive Director of Kimpact Development Initiative, Bukola Idowu, said credible elections depended on strong institutions and active citizen participation, particularly among young Nigerians.
Idowu identified declining institutional trust, misinformation, economic pressures, electoral insecurity and inadequate voter education as factors discouraging young people from participating in elections.
He urged young Nigerians not to allow frustration and distrust to keep them away from the electoral process.
“To Nigeria’s young people, my message is clear: do not allow frustration, distrust or disappointment to silence your voice.
“Get informed, register and collect your PVCs where necessary, engage with the issues, demand accountability, challenge misinformation, and turn out peacefully to vote,” he said.
Also speaking, the Resident Country Director of the National Democratic Institute in Nigeria, Francis Madugu, said Nigeria had 72 days from November 5 to the presidential election that would open the 2027 general election cycle.
Madugu said the YERP-Naija initiative, which began in 2024, was designed to sustain electoral engagement between the 2023 and 2027 election cycles and strengthen youth participation.
He disclosed that the initiative had recruited and virtually trained youth volunteers across all 109 senatorial districts, who had begun conducting peer-to-peer voter education and awareness campaigns across the 774 local government areas, the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Citing the 2023 presidential election, Madugu said approximately 27 per cent of registered voters participated, describing the turnout as a concern for Nigeria’s Democratic development.
He warned that young people who stayed away from elections risked weakening their collective influence over government policies and political priorities.
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