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The Electoral College Nigeria: Celebrating Two Years of Politeracy Advocation

Published

3 years ago

June 3, 2021

Eric

The Electoral College, Nigeria unlike its American counterpart is a non-governmental organization with clear targets on “Politeracy”, a term coined by the college connoting “Political literacy”, a concept that is grossly below parity in a country that is known to be the most populous black nation in the world.

Has Nigeria been haunted by its poor political decisions? Absolutely. The most glaring culprit being that many citizens perceive political events as confusing and difficult to understand. They struggle to organize and comprehend the complex and complicated political world surrounding them. At the same time, citizens find themselves in a powerful position in a democracy. In reality, there is lack of political awareness and a mystical perspective attached to governance and electoral processes.

A politically literate citizen not only comprehends the current state of governance, but also participates in an active and effective way and directs it. An individual with politeracy has the skills of understanding people’s viewpoints, realizing their effect upon her/him and responding to them in an ethical way.
The Electoral college has labored since its inception to bring to the awareness of citizens that they have a significant influence on the political decisions that they themselves submit to.

With a very simplified approach and a foremost goal to educate the citizen on politics and governance, these are a summary round up of the activities that have taken place within the college in the past year.

The Electoral College In focus in 2020

In March, the college’s advocacy for the need for politeracy caught the media’s attention and was featured on Sahara Reporters.

In April, the college launched it’s first virtual bouquet of classes for the course ‘Politeracy and Governance 101’.
In May – In Conjunction with PGI, the college launched a forum for black people In Governance across the world which was held virtually and themed ‘Connecting the Dots’.

On the wake of some actions on social media, true to the college’s mandate to provide deliverables to citizens, the college developed the social media guidelines for communication – for people in Governance, to help provide a cordial relationship between the government and people of Nigeria.

In June, the college was featured on Independent Newspaper on making a difference.

In July, we commenced registration and intake of the Second batch of Associates for training.

In August 120 students graduated from the college.

Also, the College in collaboration with We FM 106.3 Abuja rolled out the Politeracy and Governance bouquet on radio which airs every Tuesday at 8.05am

In September – the College in partnership with the Embassy of Sweden commemorated the international day of Democracy.

In October – intake and commencement of third batch of its Politeracy and Governance class with a record over 29,000 registrations and full participation of 1,710 students.

In November – The Electoral College Nigeria in conjunction with One Voice Hosted the Lagos East Senatorial debate which was well attended by candidates and the electorate.

In December, the Electoral College graduated 235 associates from its class.
With droplets of resources from friends of the college and the board, the college in 2020 and 2021 have trained over 7,000 people virtually and physically and would be working towards training over 500,000 by 2023.

This was our year in 2020, we are grateful for the support of the Board, The Regional coordinators, friends of the College and our most esteemed Associates for making this year a big step in Civic Education and rreorienting the democratic space in Nigeria.

The College has performed remarkably since its inception in 2019 despite its limited resources. The journey to Political literacy and massive political participation is far from over and there is need to capitalize on the college’s operations through extended partnerships to achieve a wider and more impactful reach.

Small steps for the Electoral College Nigeria and A big leap for Politeracy

Thank you
For God and Country

Featured

Airforce Confirms Nigeria’s Readiness to Acquire 24 Fighter Jets from Italy’s Leonardo

Published

52 mins ago

April 20, 2024

Eric

By Reuters

Nigeria plans to acquire 24 fighter jets from Italy’s Leonardo (LDOF.MI), opens new tab to modernize its fleet and bolster its air force, air force spokesperson Air Vice Marshal Edward Gabkwet said on Friday.

The aircraft will arrive the country in four batches of six jets each, the air force said. Africa’s most populous nation will receive the first six M-346 fighter aircraft before the end of the year, Gabkwet said in a statement.

The news followed a visit by Claudio Sabatino, Leonardo vice president, to Nigeria’s air force chief in Abuja on Wednesday.

Leonardo will provide a minimum of 25 years maintenance support, the air force statement said.

Nigeria is trying to boost its ability to combat insurgency especially in the northeast of the country where Boko Haram militants and the Islamic State regional affiliate is active. Also kidnapping and banditry is rife across the country.

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Stay Away from CBT Centres, JAMB Warns Parents, Threatens Arrest

Published

2 days ago

April 18, 2024

Eric

As this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) begins on Friday, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has vowed to arrest parents found near any Computer-Based Test (CBT) centre during the 2024 UTME exercise.

The directive was issued at the final briefing of the CBT centre owners, which was held virtually on Wednesday, 17th April, 2024.

The spokesman for JAMB, Fabian Benjamin, said this directive became necessary following the intrusive disposition of some parents during the Board’s previous exercises.

Benjamin, who quoted JAMB Registrar Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, said any parent, who disobeys the order would not only be arrested but his ward would also be disqualified from sitting for the examination.

Oloyede explained that this measure became necessary as it has been discovered over time that many of these intruding parents are facilitators of examination infractions while others have, by their actions, disrupted the Board’s examinations in the past.

He added that some miscreants also disguise as parents to infiltrate the centres to perpetrate all forms of infractions.

“The Board’s helmsman noted that going by the extant national policy on education, a candidate for the examination must have attained the age of 17 years.

“Therefore, it is evident that these parents had not allowed their wards to pass through the classes as defined in the document, hence the desperation to follow their wards to the examination venue with the aim of compromising examination officials.

“At any rate, it is clear to any discerning observer that these parents deserve to be sanctioned as they had obviously ‘smuggled’ underage children into the ranks of those scheduled to sit the examination,” the Board note through a statement.

Furthermore, the Registrar said all arrangements have been concluded for the conduct of the 2024 UTME, which will be held in over 700 CBT centres across the nation.

He disclosed that the Board expects a seamless exercise but it has nevertheless made adequate provision to tackle any technical glitch that might occur in the course of the examination.

He, however, warned that if a session experienced any technical challenge, candidates in subsequent sessions would be allowed to sit their examination as scheduled while the candidates in the challenged session would be rescheduled for the last session for the day or the following day or even further depending on the centre schedules.

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Oyo Govt Demolishes Operational Base of Yoruba Nation Agitators

Published

2 days ago

April 18, 2024

Eric

The Oyo State government, on Wednesday, demolished a building serving as the operational base of the Yoruba Nation agitators led by Modupe Onitiri-Abiola, in Ibadan.

Onitiri-Abiola, one of the widows of late Bashorun M.KO Abiola, had declared the creation of the so-called Yoruba Nation in a video posted online, which has been widely condemned.

Last Saturday, some armed men in military uniforms invaded the Oyo State Secretariat, with the motive to forcefully take over the State House of Assembly, before they were dislodged by the combined efforts of police and troops for the Nigeria Army 2 Division..

Mr. Fatai Owoseni, Special Adviser on Security Matters to Governor Seyi Makinde, confirmed the demolition of the house located at Toye Oyesola Street in Ibadan South West Local Government Area.

Already, no fewer than 29 suspects – including a lecturer – arrested in connection with the foiled armed invasion were on Wednesday arraigned by the police before a Chief Magistrates’ Court in Ibadan.

In a case with charge number Mi/520c/2024 between the Commissioner of Police and the 29 suspects, they were accused of a seven-count charge of treasonable felony, unlawful society, illegal possession of firearms, and conduct likely to cause breach of peace.

Inspector Bakare Rasaq, the Investigative Police Officer (IPO) at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Iyaganku, Ibadan, said the offence contravenes, and is punishable under Section 516 of the Criminal Code, Cap 38, Vol. II, Laws of Oyo State of Nigeria, 2000.