The National Endowment for Democracy, NED, a United States-based election observer, yesterday outlined why the US is interested in Nigeria’s general elections, noting that Nigeria is the largest democracy in Africa and the fifth largest in the world, and that both Nigeria and Nigerians are highly regarded by the US.
Before Nigeria’s general elections in 2023, President and CEO Damon Wilson answered questions from journalists about the US interest and the reason NED was in the nation to interact with both state players and non-state actors, including the media.
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is a private, nonprofit organisation whose mission is to support and advance democratic institutions globally.
NED awards more than 2,000 grants annually to non-governmental organisations operating overseas that promote democracy in more than 100 nations.
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The Endowment, which was established in 1983, has stayed at the forefront of all democratic battles while growing into a complex organisation that serves as a centre of activity, information, and intellectual interchange for activists, practitioners, and researchers of democracy around the globe.
“The US-Nigerian cooperation is enormous,” he declared. It ought to serve as the focal point of American engagement with Africa. Nigeria is the most populous, economically, and in terms of entrepreneurial energy, largest country in the world.
“There is a lot more potential, untapped potential in the US-Nigerian relationship. We also have huge numbers of Nigerians that live in the United States. Now, many have become Nigerian Americans.
”The diaspora is quite strong and the connections are quite strong, whether it is the financial and fintech or Nollywood or diaspora ties or political ties. Look, this should be a gargantuan relationship. “Nigeria and the United States are two of the largest democracies in the world.
”There should be more interest, more of a connection. So yes, we are interested, it has consequences for our relationship but we are hopeful that there will be enthusiasm and administration that can really build and is part of what we do in the endowment.
“We want to build the relationships between our peoples, between our civil societies’ organizations, and that is really at the heart of the strength of the connection between free societies. In Nigeria, the United States should be leading free societies around the world.”
”However, Wilson further stated that “On how to develop public policies for the governance of the economy that can really help strengthen Nigeria’s democracy.
“Nigeria is a country over the past five we have seen from 50 million to over 100 million people move into poverty. We have seen income levels drop in Nigeria which is not great.
“We also support a lot of Nigerian partners that are doing human rights defending that are legal rights for artists or marginalized communities that are working on inclusion and political space that are doing youth empowerment, like Yiaga Africa they are supporting independent media.
“Sometimes, we support efforts that are Nigerian groups, working to fact check and expose disinformation, so it is a pretty diverse range of efforts that are related towards bolstering the democratic environment.”
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