By Okechukwu Onuegbu
Civil society organisations (CSOs) and media across Nigeria's 36 States and federal Capital Territory, on Friday, teamed up to strengthen election credibility in the country with a view to uphold the principles of democracy, rule of law and good governance.
The societal watchdogs at situation room advocacy meeting organised by the Nigeria Civil Society Situationroom in collaboration with the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and supported by the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), reaffirmed commitment towards holding the government accountable as enshrined in section 22 of the Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria as amended.
Speaking at the occasion, the Convener, Nigeria Civil Society Situationroom, Dr YZ Ya'u stressed that organising a credible poll demands effective collaborations to hold the government accountable towards constituting an unbiased electoral umpire and committing to the relevant electoral laws, guidelines and other processes.
"We can also start by advocating for appointment of credible electoral officers as tenures of the National Chairman of INEC and some officers of the commission end this year. We must use our platforms to interrogate the system and ensure that credible people emerge and also organise a credible election. We must also sensitise the populace to participate actively and rightly," he noted.
Ya'u also urged the media and CSOs to continuously highlight and discuss the key issues in the 2023 electoral acts requiring amendments with a view to get the National Assembly to respond accordingly.
Also speaking, the National President, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Comrade Alhassan Yahya, while assuring that the partnership had started and would continue, maintained that the media would not hesitate in playing their critical role as enshrined in relevant sections of the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria as amended.
To achieve this, Yahya added that the NUJ under his leadership would work towards empowering the forth estate of the realm with relevant knowledge and skills needed to perform their responsibilities through training and retraining, as well as checkmate the issues of news commercialisation and other unethical practices.
Contributing, a development consultant, Agianpe Onyema and Bukola Idowu of Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI) while highlighting some key issues in the 2023 electoral act, urged the media and CSOs to be focused and not to wait till election time before interrogating the electoral system.
Speaking in a panel discussion, the National Secretary, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Comrade Achike Chude, Safiya Bichi of Yiaga Africa, and a development expert, Mr Austin Aigbe harped on the need for application of technology, fact-checking, investigative journalism and citizen observers in electoral monitoring and reporting to increase credibility of electoral process.