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MI-VotE 

General Elections to elect the Nigerian President and National Assembly were held in February 2019. Dubbed ‘MI-VotE’, our communication project aims to improve inclusion and participation in the election cycle by using a variety of media to reach Nigerians across the country – particularly those who are often marginalised.

We have been helping people to discuss issues that are important to them, bring them together with leaders and decision-makers, provide key electoral information, and build their overall engagement with the electoral process - both in the lead up to the elections and beyond.

We do this through:

Weekly radio shows

Talk Your Own and Mu Tattauna (Let's Discuss) are weekly radio magazine shows, broadcast in Pidgin English and Hausa respectively. The shows feature a mixture of one-to-one interviews, in-depth features and ‘town hall discussions’. Talk Your Own airs on over 160 radio stations nationwide, while Mu Tattauna airs on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Hausa Service and on over 40 radio stations across Northern Nigeria.

In 2016, Talk Your Own reached 19.7 million Nigerians, while Mu Tattauna reached 11 million. 89% of the Mu Tattauna audience reported improved knowledge of key governance issues from listening to the programme, while 93% of Talk Your Own listeners agreed that the programme played a role in holding the government to account.

Town Hall discussions

Recorded debate shows feature experts and influential local and national leaders sitting face-to-face with, and answering questions from, a live audience up and down the country. Audience members are selected to ensure diverse representation, a range of voices, and spirited and informed discussion. The town hall discussions are broadcast as special episodes of Talk Your Own or as stand-alone specials on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Hausa Service.

Public service announcements (PSAs) for TV and Radio

Typically 60 seconds long, each of our PSAs covers a single electoral issue, like the one above. They are designed to inform, raise awareness, or highlight a particularly relevant issue. They also reinforce and emphasise our content broadcast on radio, tv or online, and help spark further discussion.  

Online content

The highly successful hashtag (Don’t just sit down and look) encourages people to get involved in their communities, and join the conversation around the elections. We share celebrity interviews, short videos, and other engaging, relevant and impactful content through ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Media Action Naija’s , Twitter and Instagram pages - and through partner media stations, celebrity guests, and other stakeholders’ social media pages 

Training

We’re supporting 12 radio and 7 TV stations across the country to produce their own inclusive, informative elections programming for their local audiences. Our experienced trainers and producers work side-by-side with local media practitioners to help enhance their skills, and we engage with station managers to help ensure that these new initiatives and skills are embedded and championed. 

Project information

'Social media first' approach to youth participation

Findings from the 2016 Nigerbus Survey showed that 37% of young Nigerians feel they are ‘not very well’ represented in governance and decision-making processes, and 29% were reported as ‘not at all’ involved. Our own research in 2016 revealed that levels of participation among young people (15-24) were lower than in any other age group we surveyed. 

Using a ‘social media first’ approach, this project aims to strengthen the political knowledge, understanding, discussion and civic participation of Nigerians between the ages of 18 and 24. 

#Woke4Naija (Woke for Nigeria)

We’ve set up separate groups for people between 18 and 24 on both our Pidgin English and Hausa language Facebook pages where we’ve launched discussions under the hashtag  (Woke for Nigeria). Our high-quality social media content on Facebook and Instagram aims to engage young people around electoral and political issues in a balanced and responsible way. In , Nigerian music star Korede Bello talks about voting.

Training and resources

We are training 10 local Nigerian media stations in Abuja to produce high quality social media content that is balanced and inclusive, speaks to young people, and addresses issues that are relevant to them. To extend the reach of this training, we’re creating online training courses that will be made available to all media practitioners starting in early 2019. 

Project information