“2023 General election is a very important and crucial election in the history of our country as for the first time the county is witnessing a huge percentage of youth voter turnout across the county with the Equity International Initiatives (EII) mobilizing and encouraging over 15 million young voters across the country to register and vote in the 2023 general elections.”
The Country Director Equity International Initiative (EII), Amb. Chris Iyama, said this on Friday at the grand Launch of the Citizen Observers Hub for the 2023 general elections, an Election Situation Room at Valada Hotel in Jos Plateau State.
He said the 2023 citizen observers hub is designed in a way where observers will be staying within their various polling units to observe the election without traveling long distances but will feed the situation room with happenings from their various polling centers.
Amb Chris said in 2019 the Equity Situation Room Deployed 3820 observers across the polling unit in the country with a lot of commendations after launching the report as such the Data-Hub will monitor and report real-time election happenings across the country in 2023, with an effort to yield positive results and recommendations just like in the 2019 general elections.
He further stated that the Election Situation Room is set up to monitor the election and has 25 data Clarks representing the country’s six geopolitical zones, saying that the data Clarks will be tracking results and happenings around over 207 polling units in the country.
“At the Citizens Obervers Hub Situation room we are going to be tracking the votes of Nigerians, the votes of Youths and elderly, the vote of people living with disability, we are going to be tracking election violence, we are tracking vote buying, we are going to be tracking the security personnel and their conduct, tacking the arrival and time of election materials and different thing that have to do with the credibility of the elections.
“With the peculiarities of the 2023 general elections EII used the whole of 2022 to tour round the country preaching voters’ education, engaging with citizens and mobilising them to participate in the electoral process, with the efforts yielding positive results as the country witnessed minimal pre-election violence.”
“In preparation for this election, we conducted a lot of citizen engagement and training of security personnel. We went round the 774 local government councils of the country preaching the message of peace and participation of young voters”. Iyama said.
In his remarks, The Country Director of Mission 21, Dr. Yakubu Joseph, commended the efforts put in so far to ensure young people’s participation in the 2023 general elections.
He said the effort is worth the while as youths have no other country except Nigeria and must do everything within its limit to protect it.
Dr. Yakubu said the election situation room will run through the election period and will be open for stakeholders to visit and interact.
Speaking further, a Board Member CYPA African Project Lead Change Makers, Mrs. Toyin Wiggins said the efforts of carrying people with disabilities in the process of the 2023 elections are laudable.
She applauded EII for its efforts in ensuring that the disabled found their place in the process of not only choosing who governs them but also participating in ensuring a credible process.
The citizen’s observers Hub will run from Friday 24th February to Monday 27th February 2023 with different personalities from the media and civil society organizations expected to visit the situation room.
