Aid Foundation, in collaboration with the Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission (KADSIECOM), on Wednesday sensitised People With Disabilities (PWDs) and other Civil Society Organisations (CSO’s) on the do’s and don’ts of the elections.
The one-day civic education workshop organised by the Aid Foundation in Kaduna was aimed at educating the PWDs and CSO’s on the use of the newly introduced Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) ahead of the state’s Local government elections.
Mr Kato Adams of Aid Foundation said the exercise was part of the implementation of thematic areas, in partnership with KADSIECOM as it conducts its civic education ahead of the forthcoming 2021 local government elections in the state.
Adams said the choice of educating the PWDs was as a result of their challenges, which would ordinarily not stop them from exercising their civic rights.
He added that PWDs and CSO’s would take up the demonstrations and enlightenment on the voting processes, especially the use of the EVM to their members and the larger community, thereby replicating the knowledge in communities.
According to him, the essence was to ensure adherence to the election guidelines, which denounces malpractices, violence, and encourages the choice of credible candidates for the betterment of the youths and the country in general.
Earlier, Mr John Bulus, Head of voter education of KAD-SIECOM, identified issues linked to inadequate voter and civic education in Nigeria to include poor participation in voter registration, lack of understanding of voting procedures, underage voting and election violence.
Bulus noted that elections were a core process within a democracy which provide opportunities for important debate on the future of a country in various tiers.
“Improving voter education is one of the key goals, as KADSIECOM aims to achieve increased voter turnout during elections, improve voter knowledge of the EVM machine, as well as encourage ethical voting”, he said.
Bulus noted that some features has been added to the EVM to curtail hitches experienced in previous elections in the state, to enable more transparency, accuracy and stronger features to tackle compromise.
Also, the Vice Chairman, Joint Association of Persons with Disabilities in Kaduna, Mr Abubakar Adam, urged KADSIECOM to situate polling units in accessible areas and positions, to ease their struggles.
He also called on KADSIECOM to educate political party agents on the need for peaceful and credible elections, saying “political party agents are always the ones causing problems at first in a polling unit”.
The National Daily reports that some of the CSO’s in attendance at the event included Connected Development (CODE), Coalition of Association for Leadership, Peace, Empowerment and Development (CALPED), among others.