Bassey Dan-Abia, MD, NDDC
The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has given assurances that all will be well at the end of the day during the next year’s general elections. This message of hope was given at a one-day sensitization workshop held in Port Harcourt at the weekend to kick-start a series of workshops on Voter Education Programme that will take place in all the nine Niger Delta States.
The voter education programme, sponsored by the NDDC, and facilitated by Direct Impact Consulting, is meant to prepare, equip and empower the people of the Niger Delta for a peaceful and effective participation in the 2015 elections.
Addressing participants at the workshop, the NDDC Managing Director, Sir (Barr) Bassey Dan-Abia, said that the commission considered it a duty to contribute its quota to ensure the success of the forthcoming general elections in the country. Dan-Abia, who was represented by his Special Assistant on Youth, Sports, Culture and Women Affairs, Barr. George Turnah, said that the NDDC must be in the forefront in the quest to get it right in the 2015 polls.
Bassey Dan-Abia told the participants that the country was blessed with a leader who believes in a transparent electoral process. He reminded them that President Goodluck Jonathan was the chief proponent of one-man-one-vote, noting that the President had repeatedly said that nobody’s political ambition was worth the blood of any Nigerian.
The NDDC Chief Executive Officer harped on the need for a peaceful and successful election, stating that the process leading up to the elections was as important as the election itself. He said: “When the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Rivers State asked for our support in voter education and enlightenment, we felt obliged to do something quickly. Thus, the workshop is our response to a call for support by the Independent National Electoral Commission to sensitize and mobilize the electorate.”
In his presentation, the Rivers State Director of the National Orientation Agency, NOA, Mr. Oliver Wolugbom, said the a lot of things have changed in the electoral process, making it unnecessary to stick with the old habits of engaging in malpractices on election days. “The old order has changed with the introduction of electronic card readers and other computer-based checks. The system is such that no one can vote with a card that does not belong to him or her and the problem of ballot box snatching has been neutralized,” he said.
The NOA director said that the theme of the workshop, Citizens Responsibility: Towards a Peaceful 2015 General Elections, was very apt as “Nigerians need to have faith in their country and believe that we will get it right this time.” He appealed to the mass media to help in building the country rather than sowing seeds of discord, noting that the media were in a vantage position to set the tone of political discuss.
Mr. Wolugbom also appealed to the civil society groups, especially those with international affiliations, to be patriotic and help the country to build strong institutions that would serve as bulwarks for growth and development.
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