Nigerian youths have been urged to be part of the electoral process in the country ahead of the 2023 general elections.
This was the submission at the Twitter Spaces spearheaded by Quest Times to sensitise young Nigerians on the need to vote and by extension stem apathy, especially among young Nigerians in the country’s forthcoming election.
The week-long campaign which kick-started Wednesday, September 21, is titled: “Young Nigerians need to come out to vote in 2023 like never before.”
ALSO READ: Nigerians will shock us in 2023, Obaseki warns political class
The campaign with the hashtags #YourPVCisPower #QuestSaysVoteWisely #ShunElectionViolence is expected to continue Friday, September 23. It is aimed at driving quality conversations around the 2023 elections and also emphasising the need for young people to participate in the electoral process.
One of the keynote speakers, Moshood Isah, the media officer of YIAGA Africa, observed that the “Soro Soke” mantra birthed during the EndSARS Movement spurred many young Nigerians to get their PVCs in recent times, compared to previous years when there was little or no motivation to involve in the political process.
He, therefore, urged young Nigerians to channel the same energy utilised during the EndSARS to come out en masse and vote come 2023.
In his remarks, Yinka Ogunnubi, a good governance advocate, emphasised the need for the media to double its efforts in terms of voter education which he believes must be issued-based and devoid of partisan politics.
“The media must begin to ask critical questions by educating the electorates (young Nigerians) who are skeptical positively, and in turn, get them to the poll,” he stated.
Corroborating the above views, the managing editor of Quest Times, Jude Egbas noted that poverty is one of the causative factors affecting the Nigerian media space.
“Journalists are poorly paid in Nigeria. The brown envelope syndrome has bastardised the media space, hence, the reason for some of these aberrations among journalists,” he opined.
He, however, urged media practitioners to stand tall in their role as watchdogs and hold the government accountable to the people.