TQM Report,
Since the dawn of democracy in 1999, the case of Anambra state has remained confounding in deciding who occupies the apex political office in the state.
Doubtlessly, the controversy and tussle for power years ago led to a court ruling which made Anambra state join the league of off-cycle elections in Nigeria.
The Inclusive Friends Association (IFA) have been at the forefront in ensuring that elections are inclusive in Nigeria. Over the years, IFA has through strategic and informed research-based advocacies to relevant stakeholders. To achieve inclusion of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in the planned Anambra election, IFA will be conducting a Polling Unit Accessibility Audit.
IFA through a random sample will deploy 200 trained Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) to 200 Polling Units across twenty-one Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Anambra state. The polling unit observation will be done through the lens of PWDs with observers cutting across various clusters of the disability community.
The breakdown of the sampled PWDs observers are as follows: Aguata 12, Anambra East 9, Anambra West 6, Anaocha 11, Awka North 5, Awka South 14, Ayamelum 6, Dunukofia 6, Ekwusigo 7, Idemili North 16, Idemili South 9, Ihiala 11, Njikoka 8, Nnewi North 11, Nnewi South 10, Ogbaru 14, Onitsha North 11, Onitsha South 11, Orumba North 9, Orumba South 7 and Oyi 7 observer
The IFA team has conducted training with all 200 PWDs selected observers at nine centres clustering the 21 LGAs according to their proximity and numbers of participating observers with all COVID 19 protocols adhered to. The training centres are, Ihiala, Dunukofia and Ogbaru on Tuesday 26th October 2021, Njikoka, Orumba North and Anambra East on Wednesday 27th October 2021 and Onitsha South, Orumba North and Awka South on Thursday 28th October 2021.
To ascertain that the observers understand the content of training and to test IFA’s
systems and readiness, all 200 observers will participate in a simulation exercise on
Tuesday 2nd and Thursday 4th November 2021 ahead of the election. Observers will
send in practice text messages to the IFA database.
To communicate the activities of the IFA and impacts, IFA has commissioned an
educative jingle to sensitize the community of PWDs and the Anambra citizens at
large to participate in the planned elections. The radio jingle has information on the deployment of assistive materials by the Independent National Electoral
Commission. These materials are the Braille Ballot Guide (BBG), Form EC30E, Form, EC40HÂ and priority voting.
In further promoting communication to citizens, the IFA will hold a pre-press conference on Friday 5th November 2021.
The press conference will host members
of the press across Anambra state and in the PWDs participants. The press conference will be informative on the planned deployment of PWDs observers.
After the Elections, IFA will hold a post-conference on Sunday 7th November tos sharethe findings from the observation. Participants will be from the media and PWD community.
The IFA is committed to ensuring accessibility for the community of PWDs through research and engagement with relevant stakeholders in having a free, fair, credible and inclusive election.
