The socio-political group under the aegis Electoral College Nigeria has said there is lack of political awareness and a mystical perspective attached to governance and electoral processes in Nigeria.
The group also said Nigeria unlike its American counterpart is a non-governmental organisation with clear targets on “Politeracy”, a term coined by the college connoting “Political literacy”, a concept that is grossly below parity in a country that is known to be the most populous black nation in the world.
This was contained in a statement signed by its Executive Director Kunle Lawal and made available to journalists on Friday.
According to him, A politically literate citizen not only comprehends the current state of governance, but also participates in an active and effective way and directs it.
He explained that ,”An individual with politeracy has the skills of understanding people’s viewpoints, realising their effect upon her/him and responding to them in an ethical way.
“The Electoral college has laboured since its inception to bring to the awareness of citizens that they have a significant influence on the political decisions that they themselves submit to.
“With a very simplified approach and a foremost goal to educate the citizen on politics and governance, these are a summary round up of the activities that have taken place within the college in the past year,”Kunle said .
Speaking further, he noted that Nigeria has been haunted by its poor political decisions. Absolutely, the most glaring culprit being that many citizens perceive political events as confusing and difficult to understand.
“They struggle to organize and comprehend the complex and complicated political world surrounding them. At the same time, citizens find themselves in a powerful position in a democracy.”
