US Supports Nigeria’s 2023 Polls with $50m in Technical Assistance

US Supports Nigeria’s 2023 Polls with $50m in Technical Assistance

The United States government has announced a sum of over $50 million in support of preparations for the 2023 general elections. It will be deployed into technical assistance and support, training for journalists and civil society organisations, transparency in the election processes, and efficient IT systems among others. The United States Consul General, Mr. Will

The United States government has announced a sum of over $50 million in support of preparations for the 2023 general elections. It will be deployed into technical assistance and support, training for journalists and civil society organisations, transparency in the election processes, and efficient IT systems among others.

The United States Consul General, Mr. Will Stevens, says the sum will take care of preparations for the polls in terms of training journalists as well as Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) for election reporting and technical assistance among others. He reiterated the US’ commitment to building capacities of journalists and CSOs towards credible polls next year. He is the Head of the Consular Office in Lagos.

Mr. Stevens, spoke in Ibadan, Oyo state, during an open session of election reporting workshop for journalists organised by West Africa Broadcast & Media Academy (WABMA). He explained that the US government is interested in seeing that every vote counts during the forthcoming elections.

He added that the US government had been working closely with partners through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to ensure that the election is as transparent as possible.

“The US government has allocated over $50 million for technical assistance and support, training, for civil society organisations to support elections, transparency, elections processes, technical assistance, working on the IT systems among others

“We’re committed to initiatives here in Nigeria to build needed capacity. We funded training for hundreds of journalists on topics ranging from fact-checking, health reporting, defence and national security reporting, investigative journalism, election reporting, and media ethics,” he disclosed.

The US official noted that the country will continue to emphasise the value of voting and protecting a free press.

The workshop, organised by the West Africa Broadcast and Media Academy (WABMA), with the support of United States Consulate General and Enugu Literary Society, holding at the American Space, Jericho, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. Journalists attending the three-day intensive election reporting workshop for South West, were selected from Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti States.

Ambassador Stevens said that the essence of the programme was to enlighten people on their civic responsibilities and the need for them to participate in the elections, stating that the US would continue to emphasise the importance and value of voting.

Also speaking, the Team Lead, Election Reporting Project (ERP), Ken Ike-Okere, stated that the workshop was organised to build the capacity of 150 Nigerian political journalists, photojournalists, videographers, and political editors, who will cover the 2023 election cycle.

He added that the participants at the event of the workshop, should be able to manage an election coverage reporting website dedicated to political journalism content produced them, noting that similar training would be held in Lagos, Enugu and Port Harcourt in Rivers state. He charged journalists to guard against fake news by fact-checking their stories and being sure of their sources.

The Dean, School of Communication and Chair, Department of Radio, Television and Film, Texas Southern University, Houston, Texas, United States, Prof Chris Ulasi; former Dean, School of Communication, University of Lagos, Prof Lai Oso; and a journalist with the Associated Press (AP), Mrs. Grace Ekpu, are among the resource persons at the workshop.

Media experts, Professor Lai Osho of the Lagos State University and Professor Christian Ulasi of the School of Communication, Texas Southern University, said democracy would not survive without the media.

Ayo Aluko-Olokun
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