Date: 2015-02-17

Students  of the Department of Mass Communication, Federal Polytechnic, Offa, have embarked on awareness programme to sensitise the public to violence-free polls in Nigeria.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the students of the institution were seen in their numbers in Ilorin distributing handbills to passers-by.

The general elections, which informed the programme, will be held on March 28 and April 11 instead of the initial dates of February 14 and February 28, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The handbills carried messages such as, ‘Say No to Violence during 2015 elections’ and ‘Promote Peace not Crisis or Violence’, among others.

The students also visited media houses in Ilorin to solicit their supports toward disseminating the messages to wider audience in the country.

At the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Ilorin, the students were received by some members of the chapel.

The leader of the students, Adeyemi Victor, said their visit became imperative considering the fact that the youth constitute the largest percentage of the country’s population.

He added that the awareness was a practical course as well as a pre-requisite condition to complete their Higher National Diploma (HND).

Victor said there was no better time than now to carry out the practical course considering the role election played in the national development of the country.

“We agreed that the youths are most associated with violence and allowed themselves to be used as political thugs.

“So, if we agree, then there is the need for us to call ourselves to order, that is why we are here.

“We will continue our awareness until we are sure there won’t be violence before, during and after the elections,” Victor said.

Head of Department, Mass Communication, Federal Polytechnic, Offa, Mr Abdullateef Oyewole, stressed the need for the students to be more involved in practical aspect of their education than theory.

“We have enriched our curriculum to accommodate more practical courses.

“We are preparing these students to be self-reliant after their higher education,” Oyewole said.

He said the awareness could not have come at a better time than now, because a peaceful and violence-free election should be priority to all.

Oyewole urged stakeholders in the election process to give Nigerians free, fair and credible elections.