The need for Nigerians, especially Lagosians, to be actively involved in the process leading to the forthcoming General Elections in the Country, formed the highpoint of discussions between the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Lagos State, Mr. Sam Olumekun and the Director, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Lagos State, Mr. Waheed Ishola during a courtesy visit to NOA State Headquarters in Ikeja, Lagos on Wednesday 25th April, 2018.

Setting the tone for the visit, the REC commissioner, Mr. Sam Olumekun commended the NOA management team for the reception accorded his team. He recalled with delight and excitement how the activities of the Agency gave him and the commission successes in his previous assignments – a solid “backbone of success”. He noted that the visit was to solicit support and cooperation of National Orientation Agency (NOA) Lagos State Directorate in the area of mobilization, education and sensitization of the people for the collection of their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVC) and effectively participate in the ongoing Continuous Voters’ Registration Exercise. He further emphasized, that Lagos has the largest number of uncollected PVC’s, thus the need to join hands with NOA in educating the people.

The Commissioner also observed that, Nigeria has experienced daunting political and socio economic challenges in conducting elections and Lagos state being a mega-city, densely populated with people, needs to either sustain the successes achieved or improve on the electoral processes in the country. He therefore promised to partner with the Agency in INEC major programmes towards the forthcoming 2019 General Elections.

Welcoming the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) to his office, the Director, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Lagos State, Mr. Waheed Ishola thanked the commissioner for the encomium and honour of visiting the Agency. He noted that there is no gain saying the fact that over the years, Nigeria has experienced several general elections with evidence of improvements based on lessons learnt from previous exercises. In view of this, the National Orientation Agency (NOA) has being very active in the area of sensitization and mobilization of the people on voter’s apathy and education.

Furthermore, the State Director promised to adequately use the existing structure of the Agency at the Local Government level to carry out political awareness campaign in order to make sure that the good people of Lagos are not left out in the scheme of things. He therefore urged the Commission to see that the Agency is kept abreast of the commission’s activities as they unfold. This is because the Agency’s mandate is to service all relevant agencies/commissions in publishing their programmes and activities

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