Reducing Nigerian youths involvement in electoral violence : an action research approach

Abstract

Nigeria’s political landscape has the potential to be, and it is divided along, several fault lines including ethnicity and religious affiliations in the midst of widespread poverty and unemployment, especially among the large population of the youth. Hence, the contest for political or electoral posts, by default, is shaped by these factors and others highlighted in the study. Thus, the youth of Nigeria find themselves in a space where supporting a particular candidate usually translates into choosing one of the several fault lines to associate with rather than individual merit and competence. This invariably leads to their involvement in acts of electoral violence, as merit and competence are usually not the factors that count in most of the elections but, rather, the might of a particular group or party. The use of action research as an approach to this study has allowed an in-depth exploration of the problem of youth involvement in acts of electoral violence in Nigeria. It has also allowed the engagement of a number of youth, not just in understanding the disadvantages of electoral violence but also in the dangers of engaging in it, both for the nation and the perpetrators. So also, the benefits of peaceful engagement in the electoral processes were also highlighted. The use of action research allowed the youth a major role in the study as it is focused on “doing with” rather than traditional research of “doing for”. Thus, the participant youth were trained and equipped with relevant skills and supervised in a process of engaging their fellow Nigerian youth on the subject matter of electoral violence. The findings from this study offer some multidimensional, conceptual and practical frameworks to reduce the involvement of the Nigerian youth in acts of electoral violence. Thereby promoting societal peace and a sustainable democratic system of governance in Nigeria, bearing in mind that such are necessary for the sustainable growth and development of the nation. The practical training and interventions approach developed by this study are easily replicable and affordable, and it is intended as a template for use in areas that need to curb the involvement of youth in the acts of electoral violence, both in Nigeria and across the African continent.