EU Reiterates Commitment To Strengthen Nigeria’s Democracy

The European Union (EU) has reiterated its unwavering commitment to fostering and fortifying Nigeria’s democratic governance through the implementation of its Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN) initiative.

This affirmation comes as the EU recognizes the crucial role of democratic institutions in promoting stability, inclusivity, and effective governance in Nigeria.

The EU’s Programme Manager for Democracy and Rule of Law, Ms Olawumi Laolu said this in a statement at the end of a two-day retreat for the EU-SDGN cohort in Lagos.

Laolu said that“The EU-SDGN programme provides support to institutions of government and supports, in particular, the Nigerian electoral process.

“It provides funding and technical support to targeted beneficiaries.

“Under the EU-SDGN programme, six key areas have been identified as critical components for promoting democratic governance in Nigeria. These areas encompass support to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), support to the National Assembly and the Judiciary, support to Political Parties, Support to Media, support to Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities, as well as support to Civil Society Organizations.”

She said that the retreat assessed the interventions of the cohort in the last 12 months, to understand what worked and what didn’t work, identifying the challenges encountered, and charting better ways to address them.

She stated that it was important to introspect on the just concluded elections, and urged the EU-SDGN cohort not to lose sight of states like Kogi, Bayelsa and Imo who would be having an election in just over 100 days.

“ The retreat, therefore, sought to see whether the interventions that we have planned for the next couple of months would help us address the challenges that we have seen in the period leading to the elections, and the immediate aftermath of the election,” she said.

Laolu said that the retreat created an opportunity for all the partners to discuss their intervention areas, the precise actions they undertook during the elections and what the cohort considered the critical issues that needed to be addressed moving forward.

NAN/ Mercy Chukwudiebere