2027: Tinubu Urges CSOs To Monitor Polls, Advocate Electoral Reforms

President Bola Tinubu has charged civil society organisations (CSOs) to play a leading role in ensuring credible and peaceful elections in the 2027 general elections.

Tinubu gave the charge on Friday at the National Civil Society Organisations Summit 2026, held at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre, Abuja.

The President, who was represented at the summit by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, said civil society had historically played a significant role in Nigeria’s democratic development and should continue to contribute to strengthening the electoral process.

He urged CSOs to educate voters, monitor polls and advocate for electoral reforms before, during and after the 2027 elections.

“Civil society must continue to educate voters, monitor polls, and advocate for reforms, before, during, and after elections,” he said.

According to him, CSOs, working with law enforcement agencies, the judiciary, the media and engaged citizens, can contribute to ensuring credible elections.

“Together with law enforcement, the judiciary, media, and engaged citizens, CSOs can ensure elections are credible,” he said.

Tinubu said Nigeria’s strength lay in its united people and their vigilance, urging civil society organisations to remain a stabilising force and contribute to national cohesion.

He also called on the civil society community to collectively develop a code of conduct for its members, saying past experiences had shown that some civil society players had taken actions without sufficient consideration for ethics and the overarching public interest.

The President said such actions could strain the partnership between government and civil society, stressing that his administration operated an open-door policy in which transparency and accountability remained core values.

He further reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to protecting civic space and the freedoms of expression, association, assembly and the press, describing them as rights protected under the Constitution and Nigeria’s international obligations.

Tinubu urged CSOs to uphold high standards of integrity, professionalism and mutual accountability, saying their legitimacy should be matched by credibility and their advocacy by patriotism.

In his keynote address, the Director-General of CSCHEI and National Convener of the National Civil Society Organisations Summit 2026, Ambassador Kunle Yusuff, said the summit was convened at a critical moment when, according to him, divisive narratives were being propagated for political gain.

Yusuff said the summit’s deliberations were structured around four strategic pillars: civic education, electoral integrity and peaceful elections; sustainable development, food security and climate finance; security, peace, democratic governance and the rule of law; and information integrity, strategic communication and digital governance.

He said the pillars were intended to provide an agenda for national development.

“Let me be very clear: civil society is not anti-government. We are pro-Nigeria,” Yusuff said.

He said the civil society sector had a role to play in bridging the gap between government policies and citizens, noting that the summit brought together accredited CSOs and community-based organisations from across the country.

According to him, the summit would produce three proposed outcomes: the Abuja Declaration on Nigeria First, the National CSOs Monitoring Framework, and a Sustainable Partnership Compact involving civil society, government and the private sector.

Yusuff said the monitoring framework would be used to track budgets, electoral promises and climate funds transparently, while the partnership compact would seek closer cooperation among civil society, government and the private sector.

On the 2027 elections, he called on all stakeholders to contribute to credible, peaceful, free and fair polls.

“Let us all contribute positively to ensure that INEC conducts a credible, peaceful, free and fair general election in 2027,” he said.

Yusuff also called on government to involve civil society organisations in policy decisions, saying they possessed grassroots data, early warning systems and recommendations on sustainable solutions.

He disclosed that the National Leadership of Accredited Civil Society Organisations had submitted nine areas of concern to the Presidency during an earlier visit to the State House.

According to him, the group appreciated the President for acting on three of the areas submitted, including declaring a state of emergency on poverty and considering the expenditure of N150 billion on social protection.

He said the civil society organisations would continue to make recommendations to government until policies and programmes elevated Nigerians from poverty to prosperity.

Yusuff also commended the appointment of Ambassador Kayode Aare as Nigeria’s ambassador to the United States and Ambassador (Senator) Jimoh Ibrahim as Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, saying the appointments had contributed to efforts to improve Nigeria’s perception globally.

He further said Nigerian CSOs were granted permission to co-sponsor a UNGA High-Level Global Executive Roundtable Side Event 2026 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, with the support of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research.

The summit was held under the theme “Nigeria First and National Development.”

In his address, Tinubu also announced measures to strengthen government’s partnership with civil society, including the establishment of a Quarterly Government-Civil Society Policy Dialogue Forum.

He said the forum would enable evidence-based advocacy and community insights to inform policy design, implementation and evaluation.

The President also said government would work with accredited organisations to enhance public finance transparency, budget tracking and monitoring of humanitarian and grassroots interventions.

He further identified food security, poverty eradication through jobs and enterprise, improved governance and human capital development as areas of alignment between government and civil society.