EXCHANGE PROGRAMS
Nigeria’s General Elections:
The YALI Contribution
By Diran Adegoke
T
he last elections in Nigeria
witnessed a wave of youth
participation; young persons are
poised to take their seat at the tables
where decisions are made in Nigeria.
400 young persons took advantage of
the recently enacted Not Too Young to
Run Law to contest for office at various
levels of government in just concluded
general elections in Nigeria.
The YALI Network is a major influence
among youth in Nigeria and members
of the network volunteered en-
mass to support the electoral process
through the YALI Network NaijaVotes
Campaign. The NaijaVotes campaign
designed in line with short and
long-term U.S. policy goals related to
Nigeria’s election, had three main goals:
• Boost voter participation and voting
informed and with integrity (no vote
selling)
• Encourage truth and accuracy in
information-sharing (no fake news)
• Inspire communities to reject violence
and hate speech
Some of the activities carried include
rural outreach, road shows, production
of jingles and videos that were shared
on radio and social media, town hall
meetings and debates with candidates,
billboard campaigns, and visits to
religious organizations, universities,
and traditional rulers. The YALI
Network hubs also collaborated with
the USAID-funded #VoteNotFight
program implementer, Youngstars
Foundation to coordinate peace
marches in each of Nigeria’s 36 states
for the program’s National Day of
Action.
To support their efforts the Embassy
organized a virtual speaker program for
100 YALI Network members located in
five American corners. The two retired
A YALI Network member during an outreach to Dutse Market, Abuja
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CROSSROADS | April/May 2019
U.S. Congressmen who participated
in the program spoke on the U.S.
perspective on credible elections
and voting rights, accountability
and transparency, and legislator-
constituents responsibilities.
The NaijaVotes campaign caught the
attention of the Center for Democracy
and Development in Nigeria who
shared NaijaVotes messages and other
content in its own election messaging
campaign, and recruited members from
YALI Network as volunteers for its
election observer mission in 21 states.
While the fiercely contested election
experienced some violence, experts said
it was less than expected with many
youth refusing to allow themselves to
be used for violence, and awareness
of fake news was noticeably higher
while sharing of it was more contained.
Voter registration rates were high but,
by comparison, voting rates were low.
Naija Votes billboard in Warri, Delta state