Democracy Support

NeGSt is committed to working with both government, non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders to mainstream transparency and efficient delivery of electoral support services in Nigeria. Nigerians have become used to elections being decided even before a single vote is cast, usually by a political godfather.

 

Party primaries remain a shady arena, and the manner in which the incoming president or state governors’ rise to power across the board evokes images of a successor being hand-picked rather than elected through the vote of the electorate. Looking at the history of electoral violence in Nigeria, the Crisis Group and election situation room, in its 2018 report stated that about 4,000 lives were lost in elections conducted from 2006 to 2015, with casualty levels increasing in each election cycle. Even with significant military and police presence, Nigerian elections are rarely peaceful. And some would say this is so because of the winner-takes-it-all mentality of the political establishment. All of which breed despondency in the mind of the average Nigerian voter, who begins to question the validity of election results and the logic in partaking in this quadrennial democratic ritual. Why risk your life to cast a ballot that will not count? Why register to vote when the entire polling infrastructure will be set ablaze.

 

As a result of the inextricable link between elections and good governance, NeGSt has decided to focus on measures aimed at confirming when free and fair elections occur in Nigeria as a means of ensuring transparency in governance. NeGSt is thus collaborating with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as well as the German Parliamentary Partners and such other pro-democracy support partners for the purpose of implementing a sustainable training program for domestic non-partisan Election Monitoring Organizations, involving youths, men and women, to enhance the credibility of election observation and ultimately, the credibility of the elections.

 

Our objective in this regard is to empower in a sustainable manner, domestic election observers in Nigeria with skills necessary to conduct non-partisan election monitoring for every election in Nigeria.