Details

The essence of organizing this forum is to bring elected public officials into contact with their electorates who voted them into office, as it is noted that after elections, most elected officers relocate to the state capitals, and cannot contact their people regularly.

Among the participants were elected public officials, government functionaries, Sokoto State Commissioner of Information, Deputy Clerk of the State House of Assembly, Local Government caretaker committee chairmen, chairman Inter-party advisory council, religious leaders, civil society organizations, politicians, police, para-military organizations, representative of women groups, youths and journalists.

The national director of political and civic education department of NOA, Mrs. Ngozi Ekeoba, opened the floor by welcoming all the participants to the event, while the Director General of NOA, Mr. Mike Omeri, gave a short remark on the reasons why the elected officials should always be in contact with their electorates. Mrs. Hildegard Behrendt-Kigozi, the Country Director of KAS in Nigeria, welcomed the participants and introduced KAS activities in Nigeria to the participants.

Alhaji Muhammadu Bello Na-Gwari, a retired permanent secretary expressed his satisfaction that the town hall meeting came at a very good time, and reiterated the reasons why a constant dialogue between the elected representatives and their electorate is necessary in our democracy. He advised the citizens to cooperate with their elected officials so that the society in general will gain from good governance.

At the end of plenary session and different submissions from many stakeholders, the participants agreed on some resolutions, which are as follow:

i. That elected representatives should have Constituency offices for collation of views and opinions from the electorates and also for review of performances.

ii. That elected officials should always endeavor to be in constant touch with the people to enable them have adequate information on their needs and views.

iii. The electorate should always cooperate and support government policies, programs and activities and should also offer constructive criticism when the need arise.

iv. The people should be adequately sensitized to shun incessant personal demand from elected officials as opposed to community or state interest, as most elected officials tend to shun their constituency because of this reason.

v. That the Forum should be replicated in all states of the Federation for a meaningful impact to be made.

vi. The Youth should be seriously sensitized and re-oriented to imbibe positive national values in order to discourage them from being used by selfish politicians.

vii. That elected representatives should also be given value re-orientation to shun act of hooliganism as exemplified in some States House of Assembly and National Assembly and to be pacesetters to the people they represent.