Earlier this week the local government in Kaduna state, Nigeria, held its election day. Over the past couple weeks, there have increasingly been posters all over the place, promoting one candidate or another. Just this last week, the campaigns were elevated immensely, so that last Thursday, the streets were filled with campaigners, driving down the main stretch of town, playing music and urging voters to come out and support their candidate.

Their elections look a little different than ours ­ no televised debates and TV commercials (not complaining on that one). On Thursday, we were in a car
going back to the house in which I stay and we could barely drive up the main road without hitting a motorcycle because of the campaigns ­ an experience I’ve never had in the states.

I’m missing the elections at home. I hear about the primaries unfolding from text messages from my sister. There is something about elections and making decisions about the future of a country that is exhilarating, but also a little scary. The decisions we make as voters today will affect our country for the years to come.

In the US, campaigns like ONE Vote ‘08 build noise around important issues of extreme poverty, but in Nigeria, poverty is part of people’s lives everyday and therefore part of the campaign trail. The new Chairman of Jaba Local Government is a board member of the Gwaimen Center (the NGO where I work) so we are very hopeful that through accountability and effective measures to fight poverty the Jaba area can take great strides forward.

-Anne Batchelder

Anne is a ONE member, as well as the former ONE Deputy Field Director, and co-founder of the Gwaimen Center in Kwoi, Nigeria