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BREAKING:INEC to deploy 707,384 presiding officers

The general elections, which are scheduled to begin on February 25, will see the deployment of 707,384 presiding officers by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

Additionally, the commission stated that electoral education needed to be incorporated into Nigeria’s primary schools’ National Values Curriculum due to its significance.

Festus Okoye, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, made these remarks at the public presentation of the Primary School Electoral Education Curriculum and Teachers’ Guide.

The curriculum was developed in collaboration with the Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council, INEC (through the Voter Education Department), the National Orientation Agency, the Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All, and academics from across the nation by the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening – Sustaining Electoral Engagement for Democracy project, which was funded by USAID and FCDO and implemented by the National Democratic Institute and IFES.

“We believe that electoral education is important in the goals of our nation,” Okoye stated. Because electoral education is a specialized field, the National Values Curriculum in our primary schools incorporates this curriculum.

“For instance, the commission will assign a total of 707,384 presiding officers and assistant presiding officers to Nigeria’s general elections in 2023.

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“The assistant presiding officers will be selected from students attending federal tertiary institutions, while these presiding officers will be selected from the crop of young men and women participating in the National Youth Service Corps.

Therefore, it is critical that we comprehend the significance of electoral education to the growth of our democracy.

“A national curriculum for civic education and a teacher’s guide with a specific focus on electoral education will prepare our children for the challenges that lie ahead, teach them how to respect other people’s races, and prepare them to assume leadership in the future,” the statement reads.

Anthony Banbury, president of IFES, stated that the organization’s contribution to the project was to improve Nigeria’s electoral system by teaching and learning about civics in primary schools.

“The revised curriculum is a hallmark innovation that will introduce children and youth to the concept, procedures, ethics, and values of democratic systems and governance very early on in order to catch them young.

“The young people’s orientation will need to start a change from the norms that are already in place. “As the children of today become the adults and voters of tomorrow, it will increase civic participation and knowledge of democratic systems and values in the long run,” Banbury stated.
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He claimed that citizens’ concerns over election participation and the electoral process had persisted even after democracy was restored in 1999.

Additionally, he stated that the lack of adequate electoral knowledge was a known factor in this.

According to Junaidu, “for well-informed and responsible participation in elections and in the electoral process, it is therefore necessary to promote democratic electoral culture and develop civic skills.”

He stated that the preceding informed the NERDC’s initiative to develop an Electoral Education Curriculum for Nigerian primary schools in collaboration with IFES.

He claims that the general purpose of the curriculum is to teach young students about the fundamentals of democracy and to instill in them the knowledge, abilities, and attitudes that are necessary for active citizen participation in the democratic process.

“Specifically, the curriculum is intended to accomplish the following five essential goals: give students a foundational understanding of democracy, the role of elections in democracy, and good governance.

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He said that the choice of primary school students was based on the fundamental idea that education should be used as a way to socialize young people so they can take on adult roles for the good of society.

Junaidu stated, “Thus, the teaching of electoral education at this level will ensure that when children reach the age of voting, they would have already understood the fundamentals of active participation in the political and electoral process.”

The Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, represented by his Senior Technical Assistant, Dr. Claris Ujam, praised the NERDC management for the initiative and stated that the curriculum had evolved into a dynamic process for sustainable national development.

He stated, “The school curricula are affected whenever there are changes or developments happening around the world.”

Therefore, the incorporation of electoral education concepts and materials into Civic Education is consistent with the Ministry’s Education for Change initiative: A Strategic Plan for Ministers.

Through high-quality education, this will make it possible for citizens to acquire citizenship values and abilities. A significant step toward bringing about positive change in the political landscape and election landscape is the electoral education curriculum.

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