2023: Cleric urges youth to campaign against voter apathy

Dr Andrew Osakwe, Senior Pastor, Summit Bible Church, has urged youth to engage in civic education to tackle voter apathy ahead of the 2023 General Elections.

Osakwe made the appeal while unveiling the 2022 Fellows of This Generation Civic Accelerators programme, organised by Buildman Leadership Foundation, on Friday in Abuja.

He urged that the youth should be fully involved in the electoral process so as to generate the changes they desire in the affairs of the country.

“We have to participate in the political process, if you don’t do something about the political direction, you will just be having more frustration.

“There must be political engagements, you must participate actively,” Osakwe added.

He also advised the youth to acquire skills,so as to be self-reliant and make a positive impact in the society.

Pastor Kingsley Bangwell, Coordinator of the programme, said it was packaged to empower youth and build their capacities for a better nation.

He said that 60 fellows emerged out of the hundreds that had undergone training on how to effectively engage, initiate and execute projects.

Osakwe said: “All the projects by the fellows are expected to be implemented between Saturday and 31st March 2023.”

He said that apart from getting briefings from reputable Nigerians, they also have the opportunity to demonstrate and praticalise leadership.

“The idea of the accelerator was just around voter education and non violence. Let young people go out there and speak to their peers.

“We have 60 participants who have gone through training and today they have been unveiled to start their projects.

“At the end of it, four young people will win an all expense one week travel scholarship to any African country, either Rwanda or Kenya, to see how those other countries are also developing,” Osakwe said.

Mr Igbo Ngozi made a presentation on the Independent National Electoral Commission Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).

The BVAS is one of the innovations that INEC brought to give credence to the electoral process.

“So, we intend to work with non-state actors, like communities, stakeholders, chiefs to sensitise the people and reach out to at least 5000 community members.

“I have picked Suleja in Niger to work and educate the people about the dos and don’ts of the BVAS,” Ngozi.

Also, Ms Vivian Oviegba said her project, “Voter apathy, Let your vote count”, was to encourage people to come out and vote during the election.

“This is because we have seen over time that people have lost interest in participating in the elections, because before now, they feel that their votes did not count.

“So, we are now going to make them understand that their votes actually count,” she said. (NAN)