Democracy in Nigeria: Continuing the Dialogue :Rapport of the Zonal workshops in Nigeria

Between Tuesday 5th of June and Tuesday 14th of August 2001, the International Institute of Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) and its Nigerian contact Group for the Democracy Assessment Project organised a series of workshop across the country's six geopolitical zones in collaboration with local research centres and NGOs. The workshops were part of a multimedia dissemination strategy for the Democracy in Nigeria: Continuing Dialogue(s) for Nation-Building report facilitated by the organisation and completed by Nigerian experts with the assistance of a few foreign consultants between January and February 2000. The report was presented to Presidency Olusegun Obasanjo, the leadership of the National Assembly, the Supreme Court, Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Lagos State, the Lagos State House of Assembly as well as the Nigerian media in November 2000 Following this, it was decided that the report, which is essentially a reflection of the views of Nigerians from all walks of life who were consulted at the assessment stage, should be made available to the Nigerian citizenry. To enhance this process, the Steering Committed of the Nigerian contact Group met in April 2001 to adopt the dissemination strategy it had earlier worked out in November 2000. This strategy called for, among other things, the effective utilisation of the media of mass communication, popular culture and a participatory workshop model. This publication is a summary of the workshop proceedings. As indicated above , a workshop was held in each of the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria as summarised in Table I (see below) Each zonal representation was drawn from the categories adopted in Democracy in Nigeria and reflected what could be regarded as major points of interest or concern within the zone, and which are calculated to generate and retain the attention of people there. Thematic considerations then became the peg for wider discussions of the report, as it was felt that this projected a better way of disseminating the report across the country. Two earlier alternatives were rejected: the first being to have only one dissemination workshop in which the whole report would be discussed. And, it was subsequently decided that for a federal republic consisting of 36 states, 774 local governments, and well over 300 ethnic groups, this would not be appropriate. Second, it was felt that a usage of the entire thematic categories contained in the report in the dissemination workshops planned for the various zones would be repetitive and constitute a lack in focus.