Elections will determine future of Nigeria —USAID, others

The United States Agency for International Development, alongside Food Basket Foundation International, Palladium and other development partners have stated that the integrity of the 2023 general elections will determine the future of Nigeria as an indivisible nation.

They made this known on Friday at a press conference tagged, ‘Safeguarding Digital Civic Space for Electoral Integrity’, jointly addressed by the agencies in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

Delivering a prepared speech, the Chief Executive Officer of FBFI, Funmi Akinyele, said the digital civic space is expected to play a significant role in the decisions that a myriad of Nigerians would take during the presidential and governorship elections in February and March, respectively.

She said, “The overarching goal of this project is to protect online civic space by combating voter misinformation and disinformation while improving access to accurate civic information inclusively.

“With the advent of citizen journalism, information circulates quickly. Unfortunately, some individuals, either by omission or commission have distorted information, leading to misinformation, disinformation and malformation.

“The misuse and repression of both offline and digital civic spaces, no doubt, have contributed to the perceptions, mostly negative, of members of the international community about Nigeria.

“The Nigerian digital civic space, like any other nation in the globe, is intended to facilitate citizens’ abilities to exercise their rights to freedom of association, peaceful assembly and expression guaranteed by the constitution.

“This includes giving and receiving knowledge, beneficial encounters for raising awareness and educating one another, among other things. In the information age, technology offers a number of avenues for improved global connectedness. Nigeria’s 222-day Twitter ban in 2020 highlighted the threat to constitutional liberties and the possibility of repression in the digital civic sphere.

“This highlighted the autocratic tendencies of some government figures who preferred to use their authority to stifle the public’s right to free speech.” she explained.

Akinyele therefore urged that the integrity of the elections must not be compromised for the betterment of Nigerians and the legacy of the country.

She was supported by the Chief Executive Officer, Social Impact Consulting, Efua Edeh, Head of Research, SBM Intelligence, Ikemesit Effiong and Program Officer, AGCSDI/Learner Corner, Anita Graham.

(Punch)