October 2024 Monthly Newsletter

Dear friend,

We describe October as the 'super month of local government elections,' with 17 states holding local government elections. This is the first time since 1999 that almost all the states in Nigeria have democratically elected local governments. This wave of local government elections necessitated our interventions last month to focus on them, particularly in assessing their quality, identifying shortcomings, and exploring how to improve them.

We also discussed improving local governance and strengthening citizen participation in democracy, sharing lessons from our recently concluded TurnUp Democracy project. The two-year project impacted thousands of people across different priority areas, intending to improve and increase their participation in democracy.

Lastly, we continued engaging with our legislature to improve our electoral legal framework to achieve Nigeria's credible and inclusive electoral system. You can read all about these and more in detail in this edition of our monthly newsletter. Happy Reading

Reflecting on Local Government Elections in Nigeria

The past few months have been a busy period for local government election stakeholders in Nigeria, arising from the July 2024 ruling of the Supreme Court on the autonomy of local governments and the illegality of non-elected local government leadership. Since the judgement, 17 states have conducted elections to elect new leadership for their local government councils. Last month, we convened a roundtable discussion to reflect on local government elections and assess the processes and outcomes of the elections, including the challenges and lessons learned.

The roundtable was attended by representatives of State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs), local government officials, civil society organisations (CSOs), academics, researchers, and international partners working on democracy, governance, and elections. It was also an excellent opportunity to present our preliminary report on local government elections, which highlighted the current challenges surrounding these elections and addressed critical issues in public and policy discourse to identify areas for electoral reforms.

Read About the Roundtable Here

Download the Report 

Our Local Government Elections Index Is Here

Early this year, we started developing a comprehensive tool to evaluate the quality of local government elections in Nigeria. We are excited to announce that the LGA Elections Index is finally here. The tool we developed this tool in partnership with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) assesses key electoral aspects, provides insights into electoral challenges, and helps develop targeted measures to address these issues. We expect it will be critical in preventing electoral misconduct, preserving credibility, and advocating for electoral reforms.

Download the Index Here

Making Democracy Work

In 2022, we launched a project called TurnUp Democracy with the support of the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to ensure democratic participation, promote civic engagement and demand accountability from their leaders. The project, which was an immense success, reached over 12,000 individuals, fostered meaningful conversations about democracy and inspired everyday citizens to take action. Last month, we presented the project report, which we rounded up in September, detailing the key achievements, challenges encountered, and valuable lessons learned throughout the project. It also offers crucial recommendations to ensure the sustainability of our successes, allowing citizens to continue benefiting from this initiative long after its conclusion.

Download the Report

Engaging the Legislature on Electoral Reforms

Last month, we presented the Citizens' Memorandum on Electoral Reforms to the National Assembly's Joint Committee on Electoral Matters as part of our engagement with the legislature towards achieving an improved electoral legal framework for Nigeria. The Citizens' Memorandum, which is compiled by Yiaga Africa and other partner organisations under the European Union's Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN) Programme, presents 16 proposals for reforming the Nigerian Constitution and the Electoral Act 2022 to achieve a more inclusive, credible, free and fair electoral process. 

Reflecting on the Edo Governorship Elections

The Edo State governorship elections have come and gone, with the results announced and our position on the process and results made known. But as we look forward to continue advocating for improvements to the electoral process, we took time last month to engage with our election observers under the #WatchingTheVote Initiative, where we looked into the overall project performance. It was an opportunity to hear from the observers on their experiences during the observation, which spanned from the pre-election to post-election. Importantly, we also discussed post-election engagements aimed at strengthening the capacity of citizens to engage in elections.

Read More Here

Exploring AI and Special Voting in African Elections

This year has been busy in the elections scene on the continent, with at least 37% of countries going to the polls. There are at least six elections in the last two months of 2024. It was against this backdrop that we hosted a Twitter (X) Spaces conversation looking at the use of artificial intelligence and the framework for early (special) voting in two elections: the South Africa general elections, which was held in June, and the Ghana general elections that will be held in December. Our discussants, seasoned elections and democracy experts, provided insights into how using artificial intelligence and early voting has improved the electoral processes in these countries and what lessons other African countries can take from them. 

Listen to a Recording Here

Impacting the Next Generation on Democracy 

Last month, we were privileged to host students of Javino Model School, a secondary school in Suleja, Niger State, on a field trip at our offices, where we had enlightening discussions with them on democracy, its importance and its roles within it. The students were passionate about learning more about democracy and eagerly asked numerous questions to broaden their understanding. These engagements are vital in creating awareness in tomorrow's young leaders so they can participate fully in Nigeria’s democracy.

Our Footprints in the Media Space

Yiaga Africa’s footprint in the media space in October was recorded with about 150 news stories across print, broadcast and online mediums. It was also a busy month for the members of our team, who made about 20 appearances on various platforms as guests and contributed expert commentary on democratic issues in Nigeria and Africa, particularly on the local government elections and democracy:

• Our Executive Director, Samson Itodo , was a guest on Arise TV, where he spoke about the need for accountability at the local government level. Watch Here
• Our Program Manager Election, Paul James , was on Arise TV, where he argued against the scrapping of state independent electoral commissions against the backdrop of local government elections across the country. Watch Here
• Our Program Coordinator, Africa Division, Ibrahim Faruk , participated in a webinar organised by Madiba Foundation on Active Citizenship and Accountability. 
• Our Communications Officer, David Ifeanyi Mkpume, was a guest on Radio Now 93.5FM Lagos, where he spoke about our recently released preliminary report on local government elections.

You can receive updates on all our activities and events directly on your phone by joining our WhatsApp channel by clicking this link.

For any questions or comments about this newsletter, please contact us at feedback@yiaga.org.