Nigeria

IRI collaborates with Nigerian political parties to foster democracy and peace, promoting issue-based policies that address citizens’ concerns. By encouraging political parties to build platforms outlining their beliefs and commitments, IRI contributes to substantive political discourse and improves accountability between elected officials and citizens. This intersects with IRI’s conflict prevention work, which is an integral component of the IRI mission. IRI also champions the inclusion of traditionally marginalized groups.

IRI initiates peace efforts among political leaders, promotes conflict resolution, and fosters consensus-building. IRI’s mapping program conducts field research in the Southeast, North Central, and Northwest regions, enabling political parties and legislators to engage with influential non-state actors and develop targeted policy solutions. IRI trains female state assembly members and established the National Women’s Parliamentarian Forum (NWPF) to advance shared policy agendas, increasing women’s political participation. IRI will uses the lessons learned from these programs to guide future initiatives, focusing on political party leadership and the social inclusion of women and marginalized ethnic groups. Empowering all segments of society is crucial for advancing democracy and ensuring its inclusivity.

IRI also strengthens democratic stability through support to electoral processes and civil society actors and through election observation. Recently, IRI completed the joint IRI-NDI International Election Observation Mission (IEOM) for the 2023 elections. From June 2022 to June 2023, IRI guided local Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in addressing election violence in six states using innovative local data collection on early warning indicators. IRI also promoted women’s inclusion, training, and empowering women to compete in party primaries and the general election. During the pre-election period of the 2020 gubernatorial election cycle, IRI created a toolkit to mitigate electoral violence. Similar work has been done in other election cycles, helping coordinate peace accords for candidates at all levels of government, from the presidential to the State House of Assembly.