By Umme Hajara Abubakar, Kaduna
The leadership of two important civil society organizations, the National Democratic Institute of the United States, and its Nigerian partner, Kimpact Developmental initiative, (KDI), paid a courtesy visit to the National Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, (NUJ).
The National Secretariat was represented by the president of the Union, Alhassan Yahya and had the National Secretariat, Achike Chude in attendance as well as the Assistant National Secretaries, Korede Opeyemi, and Tita Onyebuchi.
According to the leader of the group, Mr Bem Aga and Sannom Sarki, the visit was aimed at strengthening the existing collaborative relationship between the organizations and exploring ways of discovering new frontiers especially in the area of electoral reforms.
Mr Bem Aga who is the Programs Director of the NDI Nigeria led the delegation. He expressed his organisation’s readiness to work closely with the Alhassan-led administration to achieve shared collective goals.
He also emphasized the importance of the mutual relationship between the NDI and the NUJ and stressed the need to further strengthen this partnership to achieve greater mutual objectives.
Mr Aga also underscored the significance of the developmental initiatives being undertaken through its partnership with KDI which is aimed at orientating Nigerian youths towards participating actively in the democratic governance of the country.
Also during the visit, Sannom Sarki, the Program Director of the KDI accompanied by Gbemisola Adebowale, Senior Program officer also briefed the NUJ leadership on the various initiatives undertaken by KDI to engage engage critical stakeholders such as the country’s lawmakers at the National Assembly with regards to the implementation of much needed electoral reforms for the advancement of the democratization process in the country.
Sannom explained that, KDI has been collating feedbacks from its engagements across the six geopolitical zones. Part of this engagements included a national survey of over 4,000 youths across the country which focused on the youths evaluation and assessments of key aspects of the country’s electoral processes which has the ultimate goal of promoting electoral reform and effective governance.
She solicited the support and collaboration of the NUJ in achieving these objectives, emphasizing the importance of enhanced relationship between the two organizations.
In his response, the NUJ National President, Comrade Alhassan Yahya Abdullahi who warmly welcomed the KDI and DNI delegations pledged to work closely with the two organizations.
Comrade Yahya assured Lady Sannom Sarki and Mr Ben Aga that NUJ would do all it can to fully collaborate with NDI and KDI, leveraging on the Union’s structures across the 36 States of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.
Comrade Alhassan Yahya also extended an invitation to the NDI and KDI to the ucoming National Executive Council (NEC), of the Union for the purpose of making a presentation.
It is hoped that this successful visit will mark the beginning of a renewed partnership between the NUJ, NDI, and KDI. It is expected that the renewed collaboration will yield positive outcomes, particularly in the areas of governance, youth development, and robust media engagements.
The highpoints of the occasion include presentation of mobilization materials and group photographs.
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