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The US Consulate General in Nigeria, Jeffry Hawkins, told reporters in Osogbo, the Osun State capital on Wednesday that the American government was committed to supporting the development of democracy in Nigeria.
Mr Hawkins said that his visit to Ekiti State and Osun State, which are preparing for governorship elections, was meant to promote violence-free, fair and credible elections in the states.
The Ekiti State governorship election will hold in June while that of Osun State will hold in August.
He explained that the 15 million US Dollars aid was meant for technical assistance to the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), civil societies and political parties to help in entrenching true democracy devoid of violence.
The American Consular also spoke on the involvement of the US government in tackling the issue of terrorism in Nigeria to bring about a peaceful society.
He also emphasised the need for the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Attehiru Jega, to be objective in the forthcoming Ekiti and Osun governorship polls as well as the 2015 general elections.
As part of efforts to ensure that the governorship elections in the two states are credible, the US consulate organised a workshop for journalists in Ekiti State journalist on the use of social media networks in election coverage and monitoring.
The Consulate General pointed out that international bodies were very interested in the coming elections.
“Nigerians deserve a free, fair and credible election and the only way to get it is by ensuring that the election is free of violence. The only way to get violence free election is for the INEC to be objective during the exercise. INEC is trying their best but they need to do more,” he said.
An experienced social network usage trainer, Mr Samuel Eyitayo, delivered a lecture on how to make effective use of the social media network in covering elections.
Mr Eyitayo said the training was to improve the standard of the journalists’ news coverage.
A participant, Yinka Oyebode, who commended the efforts of the US consulate for the training of journalist in the state, said it was a step in a right direction particularly now that the state would be going into the election period.
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