Moses Ofodeme
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan, has noted the critical role of the National Orientation Agency (NOA) in driving trust as Nigeria struggles to sustain its democratic process.
Welcoming the Director General (DG) of the Agency, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, at the INEC office, Amupitan, said, “When we look at the landscape of our nation today as we prepare for the 2027 General Election, it becomes immediately clear that INEC cannot build a robust democracy in isolation.
“We can purchase the finest Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines, we can optimise the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) to international standards, and “we can map out the most logistical routes for material deployment. But all of these technological and administrative triumphs mean nothing if the citizens remain detached, uniform, cynical, or completely uneducated about the power of their votes.
“This is where the National Orientation Agency comes in.”
According to the INEC Chairman, The NOA is, without a doubt, Nigeria’s premier organization for civic orientation. While INEC is the umpire that sets up the field and manages the game, the NOA is the custodian of the values that make the players and the spectators respect the rules. You speak the languages of our people, you understand their local fears, and you know how to navigate the cultural nuances that shape public opinion.
He said this is consistent with your duties and powers under section 3 of the National Orientation Agency Act of 1993. The relevant portions are sections 3(d), 3(e), (i) & (k) are-(d) establish social institutions and framework for deliberate exposure of Nigerians to democratic norms and values for virtue, peaceful, united, progressive and disciplined society; (e) energise the conscience of all categories of Nigerians to their rights and privileges, responsibilities and obligations as citizens of Nigeria
(i) propagate the need to eschew all vices in public life, including corruption, dishonesty, electoral and census malpractice, ethnic, parochial and religious bigotry;
(k) mobilise Nigerians for positive patriotic participation in and identification with national affairs and issues
“Therefore, our partnership with you on voter education is not a secondary option; it is an absolute necessity.
“We must be honest with ourselves. We are battling a silent, dangerous enemy in our electoral ecosystem: voter apathy and deep-seated cynicism. We see it in the off-cycle polls where turnout does not match the energy of our national conversations. “We also see a sophisticated, orchestrated wave of fake news and disinformation designed to make the ordinary Nigerian believe their vote will not count. Together, INEC and the NOA must rewrite this narrative. We need to co-create a decentralized, grassroots voter education campaign that goes beyond simply telling people when to vote. We need to teach them why their vote matters and how our new legal and technological safeguards protect their choices. We must look the rural farmer, the marketplace woman, and the disillusioned urban youth in the eye and explain to them, in the language they understand, that because of the current technological infrastructure, the era of snatching ballot boxes or rewriting results manually is gone.”
He went on to say, “We do not have to look far to see the practical validation of these upgrades. The recent February 21 Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council elections and the June 20 off-cycle Governorship election in Ekiti State served as critical, real-world stress tests for our machinery. In both outings, our operational achievements were undeniable: we recorded over 90 percent early opening of polling units, impressive biometric authentication via the BVAS, and exceptionally swift, transparent result uploads to the IReV portal. Administratively and technologically, the template is working.”
He noted that these very same elections brought a sobering discovery to the fore—one that underscores why your visit today is so timely. Despite our operational precision, both the FCT and Ekiti polls revealed a persistent, deeply concerning undercurrent of voter apathy, alongside widespread confusion among urban newcomers regarding local polling unit splits and registration transfers.
This is a clear indicator that while our technology is moving forward, civic familiarity with the evolving system is lagging. It is a loud diagnostic signal that far more needs to be done in the area of intensive, deep-rooted voter education, and it proves that we cannot afford to wait until the eve of the 2027 polls to start talking to our people.
He said “As we look toward the 2027 timelines —with our Presidential election firmly set for January 16 and Governorship polls for February 6— we must begin the heavy lifting right now. This is the moment to institutionalize our collaboration. I want to see a strong working relationship between INEC’s Voter Education department and the NOA’s communication teams.
“Let us build joint campaigns against the toxic menace of vote-buying and misinformation, which threaten to contaminate our democracy. Let us work together with your field officers with the accurate technical knowledge of INEC’s operations so they can act as trusted ambassadors of truth in their respective communities.”