A non governmental organisation, Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA) has decried the poor level of knowledge and enlightenment about electoral laws and processes in Nigeria.
It therefore tasked the media to be more acquainted with the Electoral Act and guidelines of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in order to educate the public and save the country from unnecessary controversies and tension that come with the electoral processes.
PAACA executive director Ezenwa Nwagwu made the call during a one day capacity-building workshop for media, traditional and religious institutions in Kano State.
He lamented that a lot of stakeholders are ignorant and not conversant with the legal framework and electoral guidelines, hence the need for the media to play a crucial role in educating them.
“We are in Kano in continuation of our engagement across the country to popularise the legal framework with which elections are conducted across the country.
“As we travelled, we found out that critical stakeholders are very enamoured about the election but are not very clear about the legal frameworks. INEC just released a 503-page report but not many people are engaging it.
“The Electoral Act 2022 and INEC guidelines are there and you still see Nigerians, including prominent Nigerians, speak very ignorantly about electoral processes. And that is what triggered our engagement of the critical stakeholders around the country.
“We engage the media because they are the window to the minds of the citizens. If we have that partnership and robust engagement with the media, we believe our goals will be faster achieved.
“We are partnering with the media to educate Nigerians to pay attention to the legal framework whether you are a politician, media, CSO, it is important to arm yourselves with the requisite knowledge of what the law says about that all important place of election. This is the only way our leadership recruitment process is done through elections. And if you don’t understand the law that guides it, you can cause unnecessary tension and crisis,” Nwagwu stated.
In his remarks, chairman of the Kano State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalist, Abbas Ibrahim described the training as timely and a wake up call to the journalist to strive to acquaint themselves with the Electoral Act.
He also urged journalists on the code of ethics guiding the conduct of the profession.