UNDP, Yiaga Africa to mobilise 60% of Eligible Youth Voters for Nigeria’s 2023 Elections
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Yiaga Africa, on Friday launched a project tagged #SixtyPercentOfUs.
Our correspondent reports that the #SixtyPercentOfUs initiative would focus on states with low voter registration and PVC rates across the country in order to ensure that there is a high turnout of youth voter turnout in the 2023 elections.
Speaking at a launch of the partnership, Mohamed Yahya, UNDP Nigeria Resident Representative said its was aimed at mobilising at least 60 percent of eligible young voters to register, collect their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) and vote in the 2023 elections using traditional and non-traditional tools of political mobilisation.
Yahya revealed that the project aims to leverage the large number of potential first-time voters who are young people: every year, an estimated 4.5-5 million Nigerians turn 18 (the constitutional age of electoral franchise), which translates to between 18-20 million potential ‘new voters’ from the 2019 general elections to the 2023 general elections.
He said the increase in the level of first-time voters provides an opportunity for young people to determine the next set of leaders for the country through their participation in active citizenship.
However, out of the young people between the ages of 18-35 who make up 51.1% of registered voters, only 46% of these voters turned out to vote in the 2019 elections.
According a statement by the Communications Specialist of UNDP Nigeria, Alison Clement, Yahya, was quoted as saying “Young Nigerians and women play a critical role in democracy as they can act as catalysts for social change and good governance simply by participating in the election process.
“Their enthusiasm, resilience, and creativity needs to be harnessed, paired with the right platforms and opportunities for engagement, to help catalyze important changes in Nigeria’s political system.”
Also speaking, Samson Itodo, Executive Director of Yiaga Africa said a greater mass of young people are in need of good governance.
“Nigerian youths have the numbers to determine elections, and more importantly, they can vote for good governance. Our desire is not just to push for huge numbers of young people to come out and vote, but to also vote for issues and for candidates that will deliver the good governance they yearn for.”
He added that that the initiative would build a solid peer-to-peer voter-mobilisation system in Nigeria where young people, with their large numbers, could determine the next set of leaders.
