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Football viewing centre chosen to engage youth on voter registration

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By Abubakar Yunusa

A civic group in Abuja is taking voter education directly to the youth by hosting a digital outreach programme inside a popular football viewing centre.

The Grassroots Centre for Rights and Civic Orientation (GRACO), in partnership with tech firm ByteOasis, says the idea is to make voter registration more relatable and accessible to young Nigerians.

The event, called Civic Digital Skills Outreach 1.0, will hold on Saturday, 13 September, at Lilcentral Restaurant and Football Viewing Centre in Gwarinpa.

According to the statement by the Grassroots Centre for Rights communication officer, Daniel Otera said the outreach aims to boost turnout for the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), which is ongoing across ward-level centres in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The CVR exercise is due to close on 18 October ahead of the February 2026 Area Council elections.

He said “At the outreach, participants will be trained on how to complete online pre-registration, transfer polling units, and locate the nearest ward registration centres, including Government Secondary School Gwarinpa and LEA Primary School, 3rd Avenue.

“The initiative will also provide young people with digital skills such as online fact-checking to tackle disinformation, including gendered misinformation that discourages women from political participation.

“Football viewing centres are where the youth are,” GRACO’s Executive Director, Armsfree Ajanaku,said.

“We want to meet them there and remind them that if they don’t register before 18 October, they will not be able to vote in 2026.”

“We will provide free internet access at the venue to help participants complete their voter registration or polling unit transfers on the spot.

“For those unable to attend in person, the programme will be streamed live on Instagram (@GrassrootsCenter) to reach a wider audience across Nigeria.

“The outreach reflects its long-term mission of combining voter education with digital literacy in order to strengthen Nigeria’s democracy.”

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