The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has called for strengthened partnership with the National Orientation Agency (NOA) in the areas of voter education, mobilisation and publicity.
INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu made the call on Wednesday when the Director General of NOA, Lanre Issa-Onilu paid him a courtesy visit at his office in Abuja.
Professor Yakubu said while INEC will continue its voter education efforts, NOA could help in the area of voter mobilisation by working with other stakeholders such as the political parties, civil society organisations and the media.
He said the aim of the initiative was to increase voter turnout and greater participation of the under-represented demographics in the country’s electoral process, particularly youths, women and Persons with Disabilities (PwDs).
“It is for this reason that NOA has been included in the expanded membership of our Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES). The Commission is also making efforts to revamp the National Inter-Agency Committee on Voter Education and Publicity (NICVEP) in which NOA will, again, play an active role,” Yakubu said.
He said the NOA boss’ came at a critical time in the Commission’s preparations for the Anambra State Governorship election scheduled for November 8, 2025, and the 2027 general election.
The INEC chairman revealed that the nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) is scheduled to begin in about three weeks with the online pre-registration of voters on 18th August, followed by the in-person registration on 25th August 2025.
“Once again, I wish to reassure you of the Commission’s willingness to partner with NOA and we are encouraged by the giant stride of the new management under your leadership,” Yakubu noted.
For his part, Issa-Onilu also emphaised the need for NOA and INEC to collaborate for enhanced civic and voter education.
“NOA has never been given credit for democracy education. We do not have a budget for that, and it is a very important aspect of what we do. People must understand what democracy is and their role in it, their responsibilities, and their rights.
“We do get support from INEC. I don’t want to say that it is in small letters. I want it to be in capital letters. It will make the job easier and it is easier for us to handle that aspect of voter education because that is primarily our job and INEC will be able to focus on the conduct of elections, ”he stated.
