A subnational conference was held in Kano state, bringing together key stakeholders to assess the democratic process in Nigeria’s northern regions.
The conference themed:Strengthening Nigeria Democracy Pathways to Good Governance and Political Integrity.
Aims to reinforce democratic values at the national level and promote good governance and political integrity.
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According to Mr. Ezenwa Nwagwu, the Secretariat’s representative, the subnational conference served as a platform to reinforce democratic values at the national level.
He maintained that, the conference was a follow-up to a previous event held in Abuja, which aimed to strengthen democracy through a strategic partnership between four organizations.
Mr Ezenwa explained that, the success of the initiative stressed the need to expand it’s impact to the subnational level to ensure that democratic principles are not only upheld but rooted deeply in states and local governments.
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“A communique was adopted and part of the recommendations is to step down the conference in major strategic locations and Kano is the first state and in two weeks another conference will be stepped down in Lagos”
He urged participants to utilize the knowledge gained from the conference by contributing their quota in strenthening democracy.
Presenting a paper titled, strenthening Nigeria’s democracy :Pathways to Good Governance and political integrity, the guest speaker, the director of programmes youth environmental development association YEDA, Malam Abdullahi Y. Sule identified essential elements of democracy, including empowered citizens, fair processes, responsive policies, information and communication, and social cohesion.
The keynote speaker who doubles as a research fellow Mumbayya house BUK, Dr. Mustapha Isiyaku spoke on the topic tagged, strenthening democratic institutions and inclusion in Nigeria for transparency and accountability, posited that the opinion of the voters is not protected as the judiciary determines the outcome of election tribunals.
He raised concerns about the judiciary’s role in determining election outcomes and the legislative arm’s susceptibility to executive influence.
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The subnational conference was marked by panel discussions where representatives from the PWDs Rabi Gezawa, Bilkisu Ado Sango, media Comrade Abbas Ibrahim, traditional institute Wamban Karaye Alhaji Balarabe and a representative from INEC Babangida Falalu and ASP Abubakar Haruna from Kano state police command spoke on their roles as stakeholders.
The conference was organized by the Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA), the African Centre for Leadership Strategy and Development (LSD), the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), and the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD).