Politics

2023 Elections: Group Seeks to Tackle Voter Apathy with Vote023 Campaign

A Venture Builder and Founder of Emergent Labs, Emeka Mba, supported by Angela Ochu-Baiye, a Social Entrepreneur and CEO of Inspired by Jela, has launched an initiative tagged ‘Vote023′, a non-partisan incentive-driven voice call campaign to drive Nigerians’ consciousness of civic responsibility.

Vote023, which was launched on November 10, 2022, is aimed at influencing behaviour and driving action by providing compelling reasons to participate, and show Nigerians that the future of the country lies primarily in their decision to become active contributors in the electoral process.

The Visioneer and Tech Entrepreneur behind Vote023, Emeka Mba, stated: “Nigerians who do not participate in the electoral process have legitimate reasons for not participating. While most believe, rightly or wrongly, that results are predetermined and their votes do not count, others pull back because of personal safety and security reasons.

“Hence, we are launching Vote023 to correct this voter apathy by creatively sensitising Nigerians and giving them strong reasons to vote at the forthcoming 2023 elections. The objective is to deepen the citizens’ consciousness of their civic obligation and drive more engagement in the voting process.

“This is how it works. You visit Vote023.org and you will see two options- you can call the number in one of the boxes and listen to our pre-recorded non-partisan message in your preferred language reminding you to vote in the upcoming 2023 elections and we would send you an SMS and credit you with N100 airtime instantly. If you input your number or anyone else’s, you or the person will get the same pre-recorded message and receive N100 airtime instantly.”

Ochu-Baiye, who is a media consultant and a collaborator in the project, said “It is not enough to get your Permanent Voter’s Card. Vote023 campaign is designed to engender that very important action of actual voting, and we are doing this through strategically placed messaging in different languages and incentivising it for more reception.

“Apart from these pre-recorded non-partisan messages, I also created the theme song titled ‘The Call’, produced by the renowned Gospelondebeatz of SCRiiPO, that has been placed on multiple radio stations nationwide to complement other communication efforts and encourage massive voting at the 2023 elections.

“Our goal is to reach over 23 million Nigerians with 23 reasons to vote during the 2023 elections. Like we have stressed, this project is not affiliated to any political figure or party. Our emphasis is on principles and data, not parties or persons”.

Gospel Obi, popularly known as Gospelondebeatz, expressed delight to be part of the project and said that “the 2023 elections are defining for Nigeria and when the duo of Angela and Emeka pitched the Vote023 initiative to me, I bought into it immediately. We must get it right next year and that will not happen with widespread voter apathy”.

The theme song, produced by Gospelondebeatz, will be streaming on Apple Music, Spotify, Soundcloud, Tidal, YouTube, Deezer and other platforms.

Mba and Ochu-Baiye further called on well-meaning Nigerians to support the self-funded campaign for sustainability and enhanced impact, adding that the initiative is essentially to protect Nigeria’s future.

Vote023 Campaign is supported by The Group 8 Limited stations- Urban96 Radio, Correct fm, Soundcity Radio, Access 24- and a host of other media partners who have keyed into the vision of encouraging increased voting at the 2023 elections.