The European Union (EU) delegation to Nigeria says its collaboration with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure youths get their permanent voter cards (PVCs) is geared towards deepening the country\u2019s democratic process.<\/p>\n
Laolu Olawunmi, EU programme manager, Democracy and Rule of Law, made this known in Abuja on Tuesday at a media briefing in Abuja,<\/p>\n
He noted that the \u201cyouth vote count\u201d campaign is to ensure youths get their PVCs and vote.<\/p>\n
Olawunmi said though many young people have their PVCs, they do not come out to vote.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe EU has been a strong major partner of the Nigerian government, particularly since the return to democracy in 1999. We have quite an array of programmes in a development portfolio and one of our flagship programmes is in support to democratic governance. One of the things we like to highlight in that programme is very locally led, very Nigerian driven and it is unique in that sense,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
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\n\u201cOver the last couple of years, we have tried to answer an important question and it is \u2018how do we get young people to be involved in the political process?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look at the data from INEC, we have a high number of young people in terms of our population but that doesn\u2019t translate to engagement in the political process.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat question is what we tried to answer as to why we came up with the campaign, \u2018youth vote count\u2019, in 2018. The campaign is to connect young people with centres of power, to get them proactive in the government process, and to begin to shift government and perception of young people.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are trying to get the young people to get their PVCs, collect the cards when they are ready, and for them to come out and vote.\u201d<\/p>\n
Olawunmi said the EU is organising a \u201cyouth vote count\u201d concert in Abuja, in collaboration with INEC and YIAGA Africa, a civil society organisation (CSO).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The European Union (EU) delegation to Nigeria says its collaboration with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure youths get their permanent voter cards (PVCs) is geared towards deepening the country\u2019s democratic process. Laolu Olawunmi, EU programme manager, Democracy and Rule of Law, made this known in Abuja on Tuesday at a media briefing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":197938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_bookmark_settings":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2196,2622,101,28210],"class_list":["post-197965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-2023-election","tag-eu","tag-inec","tag-pvc"],"yoast_head":"\n