NGO unveils portal to support increased citizen participation in elections

Co-creation Hub, a civil society organisation (CSO), has launched GoVote Nigeria, a project aimed at voter education and bridging the gap between the government and citizens.

GoVote Nigeria is an open-source website that proposes to equip Nigerians with the knowledge to deepen their participation in Nigeria’s election and governance process, particularly as the 2023 polls approach.

Speaking on Wednesday at a conference involving journalists and CSO representatives, Yvonne Eweka, the project manager at Co-Creation hub, said the aim of launching the project is to deepen citizens’ participation in governance and provide credible access to information before, during, and after the elections.

“In 2023, we intend to deploy more innovation through GoVote to increase citizens’ participation in elections in Nigeria,” she said.

“As a collective working to improve election outcomes in Nigeria, we urge you to continue to support our vision with the GoVote project in order to provide information to voters about responsible conduct before, during, and after the elections; aggregating information points geared towards helping voters make informed choices about candidates, and conducting citizen surveys on election governance.”

On her part, Adenike Oriowo, the public affairs officer for the Lagos office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), said registered voters should collect their permanent voter cards (PVCs).

Oriowo, who represented Olusegun Agbaje, the resident electoral commissioner (REC) in Lagos, said the problem the commission is facing are associated with vote buying, fake speeches, and violence.

“People should come to get their PVCs. Right now, we have introduced a system in Lagos. If you go to the local government and you don’t get your card, they will incident it, and make sure you get your card,” she said.

“We are going to make cards available. In Lagos, we don’t have any case of missing cards. Wherever those cards found in a gutter are from, we don’t know.

“Our major challenge is the political class’ attitude by deploying all possible means like vote buying, raining false alarms, use of fake speeches, and violence.

“The political class must change its do-or-die attitude to moderate engagements.”