Why we need more Townhall Sessions.
A remarkable analysis was done about the surge in voters registration, 76% of new voters done via the online registration portal were youths with over 12.2 million. This number is encouraging.
A window of possibilities for virtual governance is up for exploring. It can be noted that once a process is moved online participation target will or can be met and there are several processes that involves citizens to participate, not just voters registration alone.
One piece of election is engaging with the manifesto and issues faced by constituency. A section of youths who are engaging online can do more than renting expensive stadium and hotel conferences for the same purpose. There should be more efforts towards using both channels to organize a trusted and civil discussions with candidates that are up for elections.
One major issue that will be solved is information gap. It isn’t just about receiving information from biased sources and propaganda news as we witness a huge increase of such across different sources. The ability of a platform to lay an audience multiple times that a stadium will take cannot be looked over, not at these time of heighten interest for information.
To alley fear of a party influence on such platform, there should be partnership between trusted local organizations institution and personality with CSO’s to dictate the theme of discussion around real issues that political candidates will be forced to engage and proffer solution.
The National orientation agency’s performance during these period need to be complemented. Outcome of such performances are that voters will be better informed, enlightened and educated, which will boost chances of better voting patters across board
We @civicvoicesng have been on this initiative and seek partnership.
Author: Segun Osofisan
Info@civicvoicesng.org
Civicvoicesng@gmail.com
Twitter @voicescivic