Press Release: Statement on South-South Youth Forum Recommendations on Electoral Reform in Nigeria

Press Release,
February, 2024.
Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Statement on South-South Youth Forum Recommendations on Electoral
Reform in Nigeria
Youth from the six south-south states, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo and Rivers under the south-south youth electoral reform initiative do hereby call on the National Assembly to create platforms to engage young people in Nigeria to contribute to the ongoing electoral reform process. The forum also calls on Nigerian youth to engage key electoral stakeholders and ensure their voices are not only heard but included in the ongoing reforms.

The south-south youth electoral reform initiative is coordinated by the Whillz Trust Foundation (WTF) with support from the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The objective of the initiative is to build youth consensus on priority electoral reform recommendations that can improve the electoral process if implemented. To ensure that youth are fully engaged and participate in the electoral reform process, WTF conducted a youth survey in the six south-south states and organized two youth forums. The youth
forums were held in Benin City on February 20th and Port Harcourt on February 23rd. The youth forums were attended by a wide range of youth representing different organs of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), political parties, social cultural groups, persons with disabilities, media and civil society organizations.

Having debated on the challenges from the 2023 general elections in Benin and Port Harcourt forums, the south-south youth recommend a review of the 2022 Electoral Act and the 1999 constitution to provide the following;

1. Introduce electronic voting and compulsory electronic collation and real
time transmission of election results
2. Ensuring voter registration and collection of PVCs is conducted by INEC
non-stop throughout the year and make voting processes easier by allowing
registered voters to vote at any INEC designated polling unit
3. Make elected and appointed political office holders resign before contesting
elections
4. Provide for six year single tenure for President and Governors
5. Remove the powers to appoint INEC chairman and the commissioners from
the president.
6. Create election thresholds for political parties to meet before participating in
national or state-level elections
7. Introduce independence candidacy to allow more youth to participate in the
electoral process as candidates
8. Reduce and harmonize the threshold for nomination forms for political
parties
9. Make political parties to adopt direct mode of primaries
10. Prohibit political parties from funding any aspect of INEC’s deployment of
materials and ad-hoc officials to polling units
11. Make voter register audit compulsory for INEC for every general election
12. Unbundle INEC and establish a commission to investigate and prosecute
election offenders; and outsource PVC distribution to credible business
outlets
13. Provide for absentee or early voting for election workers who may wish to
vote ahead of commencement time
14. Ensure that persons with disabilities can physically access polling units and
use election materials like ballot papers and braille ballot guide
15. Relevant sections in the National Disability Act should be incorporated in
the electoral act to ensure that persons with disabilities can physically access
polling units and use election materials like ballot papers and braille ballot
guide
16. Reverse to the 2010 amendment act that recognizes omission of parties as a
ground for approaching the court
17. Set up special election courts to hear election matters
18. Ensuring that courts finish hearing election cases according to law before the
swearing in of elected officials
19. Allow live transmission of the election litigation process from tribunals to up
to the Supreme Court
20. INEC should be made to prove in court that an election was done correctly
according to law (Burden of proof)

About Whillz Trust Foundation
Whillz Trust Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, non-governmental, and public interest organization, with interest and core values in leadership, democracy, governance and citizen engagement and mobilization for participation in electoral processes and elections. WTF is currently working to increase the engagement of young people in political processes in the south-south region.