We have advanced Nigeria’s democracy -YIAGA Africa

EMEKA NZE in this interview with Samson Itodo captures the achievements of YIAGA Africa Initiative, a non governmental   organisation dedicated to democracy and good governance

How did you mobilize citizens for the 2019 general elections and ensured electoral integrity?

Citizens across Nigeria are demanding for electoral integrity in all phases of the electoral process. The 2019 elections came with high expectations for all election stakeholders especially citizens who expressed frustration with the decline in the quality of Nigerian elections. Through the Watching The Vote project, YIAGA said it built a citizens movement on electoral integrity with structures across the 774 LGAs in Nigeria. In 2019,

We recruited and directly engaged over 5, 500 citizen observers under the Watching The Vote project. They were drawn from villages, rural communities and urban centers. Each observer received high quality training on elections and the electoral process and how to use their phones as a tool for promoting credible elections, conflict mitigation and civic participation. Using the Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) methodology, we ascertained the accuracy of election results, detected fraud and electoral manipulation and provided real time data on election. We also conducted the first independent Voter Register Audit in Nigeria.

Do you believe your use of technology has revolutionised the electoral landscape? 

The use of modern-day election technology to observe the electoral process has provided accurate and timely data  and revolutionized Nigeria’s electoral landscape. Yiaga Africa’s Watching The Vote project continues to utilize the Parallel Vote Tabulation, the gold standard for election observation across the world, to observe elections—Nigerians now have a go-to hub for credible elections data as a result of our successful deployment of technology overtime to observe elections. This, to a very large extent, shaped public opinions and policy recommendations on the elections conducted in 2019.

How did you strengthen the Legislature to protect the Ffuture of public trust ?

In a bid rebuild citizens trust in democratic institutions such as the legislature, we conducted a comprehensive assessment of the 8th National Assembly and provided facts and figures to give pointers on how the assembly fared in legislations, representation, and oversight. The assessment led by former Chairman of INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega provided vast recommendations on strengthening the legislature to rebuild public trust in democratic institutions. The report sets an agenda for legislative governance in the 9th National Assembly.

Has your campaign advanced political inclusion and purposeful leadership?

We have increased the number of young political office holders from 60 to 103 out of 1,558 elective positions, as a result of the Not Too Young To Run and Ready To Run interventions, remains a historic milestone in the history of Nigeria that we celebrate. These interventions resulted in the Ready To Run TV show, and The Convergence (Nigeria’s largest gathering of elected and unelected young politicians), which empowered young politicians with requisite tools and knowledge for providing excellent public leadership. With the Not Too Young To Run movement, we are determined to increase the number of young people in elected offices by 30% in the 2023 elections.

What is your contribution towards enhancing state – society engagement?

The four youngest speakers of the State Houses of Assembly in Nigeria are collaborating with the citizens of their respective states—Zamfara, Oyo, Kwara and Plateau— to develop a legislative agenda that will guide the activities of their four-year tenure in office. As a brand that focuses on entrenching democratic values to ensure citizens derive the dividends of democracy, we provided technical support to the speakers to organize town halls for discussions with resident citizens and deployed researchers to all the local government areas in their states, to acquire data for the development of the agenda. This is a remarkable feat as the young speakers are introducing new innovations to improve legislative governance, thereby setting the pace for other Speakers.

What other innovations have you brought to bear using your campaigns ?

In our continuous effort to promote accountability through collective citizens’ action, we held 2019 editions of our annual community organizing and movement building programs. 240 young people across Nigeria are making positive impact in their various communities through our Youth Organising School. Also, in the last 6 years, our annual Democracy Summer Camp—targeted at young people under 18—has educated young Nigerians on citizenship, civic activism, and fundamental human rights. This year, we held the sixth edition in secondary schools in Kogi, Bauchi, and Nasarawa states. Watch our documentary on this, “Below The Legal Line”, which was shortlisted for the  #iamAfrica Pan-African film festival.

In addition, we released a music album produced in Senegal, ‘Music as a Messenger of Democracy’ and engaged youths in Ethiopia to support the democratization project in their country.

Enhancing Local Governance through Citizens Oversight

For democracy to thrive, government must be accountable to its citizens. Service delivery and public administration at the local government level has been poor owing to weak institutional mechanisms and poor citizens oversight. To address this gap, Yiaga Africa conducted social accountability trainings in local governments across six states under the Bounce Corruption project. As a result of this intervention, some local councils now release their budget for public engagement. Under the Strengthening Citizens’ Resistance Against Prevalence of Corruption (SCRAP-C) project, citizens were mobilized to take the lead in demanding accountability by tracking fiscal policies and asking the right questions on their implementation. We also partnered with the EFCC in Enugu on the anti-corruption fight.

Promoting Data – Driven Journalism

We are super proud to have contributed to enhancing the capacity of media organizations on data driven journalism and reporting during the last general elections. We conducted a comprehensive training of over 100 journalists, editors and media executives across Nigeria on data-driven journalism to stem the tide of fake news and disinformation.

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