The United Nations Habitat Ambassador to Nigeria who doubles as the Nigerian Youth Ambassador to the United States, His Excellency, Dr. Raymond Edoh has bagged the 2022 Catholic Youth Organization of Nigeria award.


The award ceremony which took place in Ikeja Lagos, St. Leo’s Hall, with the
theme “G.R.E.E.N – Get Ready! Enfranchise Every Nigerian is her Biennial Dinner and Awards Night.

Dr. Raymond who spoke with journalists after the ward presentation thank the Catholic Youth Organization of Nigeria for the National recognition.
"Nigerian youths are my heroes and heroines. Time without number, they have proven that with my little support. Honestly, it has encouraged me to keep helping them the little way I can. We are all youths, we know the situation in the country at the moment and we all need such encouragements, we need people by our side who believes in us, who can tell us, you can make it and the rest. I still wish to state it clearly that I dedicate this award to the Nigerian youths. I can't love them less", he added.

Earlier, Edoh while speaking on the topic, "Enlightening youth to the vast electoral system in Nigeria: Fostering unity and love through vote & Promoting right to vote and effective participation towards the election", as the keynote speaker, said, Young people’s active contributions can bring democratic values to life, leading to the overturning of authoritarian practices. In countries where young people have led protests that have forced authoritarian regimes from power, they are likely to feel significant frustration if they are not included in new formal decision-making procedures. This can destabilize democratization and accelerate conflict dynamics.
"Now, the disadvantages of youths exclusiveness in political process can lead to the following changes as it has to do with Nation building.
"Diminished trust in democratic processes and institutions: Electoral violence reproduces repressive and non-democratic power structures including patriarchal repression in the institutional space. It doesn’t only diminish trust in democratic processes, it undermines the quality of democracy both directly (repressing/killing voters, candidates, etc) and indirectly (limited inclusive participation) as well as through public perceptions of legitimacy. In some contexts, elections have already become synonymous with trouble and danger. Such associations have devastating effects on trust in democratic processes and institutions.
Economic implications: Elections are the largest administrative undertakings in democratic societies, and consequently the costs associated with elections may represent a major financial burden. In some cases, governments are unable to finance elections and depend on international electoral assistance. In addition, electoral competition and election monitoring involve significant expenditures for political parties, and domestic and international monitoring groups.
Election-related violence will not only squander those resources but will further cause destruction of local communities and infrastructure with numerous negative economic and developmental consequences, both direct and indirect.



"We are experiencing a heated time in our country. Contention and anger are prevalent on social media, news, and sadly in some of our hearts.



"Now, Fostering Unity and Love through Vote:
The key to love as regards the electoral process is constitutional patriotism. We have to remain united by and through the Constitution, regardless of our ideological disagreements. Loyalty to established law instead of temporary “allies” is one of the best way to love our adversaries above political interest as we seek unity in diversity.




"For the right to participate in public affairs, voting rights and the right of equal access to public service is reproduced through the right to self determination,
freedom of information and expression,
freedom of association and freedom of assembly.

"This emphasises the relationship between the rights recognised in Article 25 and other rights, including
Voter education and registration campaigns are necessary to ensure the effective exercise of article 25 rights by an informed community.
Freedom of expression, assembly and association are essential conditions for the effective exercise of the right to vote and must be fully protected.

"State reports should describe the rules governing the right to vote, and the application of those rules in the period covered by the report. State reports should also describe factors which impede citizens from exercising the right to vote and the positive measures which have been adopted to overcome these factors.
In their reports, States parties should indicate and explain the legislative provisions which would deprive citizens of their right to vote. The grounds for such deprivation should be objective and reasonable. If conviction for an offence is a basis for suspending the right to vote, the period of such suspension should be proportionate to the offence and the sentence. Persons who are deprived of liberty but who have not been convicted should not be excluded from exercising the right to vote.


"The effective implementation of the right and the opportunity to stand for elective office ensures that persons entitled to vote have a free choice of candidates. Any restrictions on the right to stand for election, such as minimum age, must be justifiable on objective and reasonable criteria. Persons who are otherwise eligible to stand for election should not be excluded by unreasonable or discriminatory requirements such as education, residence or descent, or by reason of political affiliation. No person should suffer discrimination or disadvantage of any kind because of that person's candidacy. States parties should indicate and explain the legislative provisions which exclude any group or category of persons from elective office.
Conditions relating to nomination dates, fees or deposits should be reasonable and not discriminatory. If there are reasonable grounds for regarding certain elective offices as incompatible with tenure of specific positions (e.g. the judiciary, high-ranking military office, public service), measures to avoid any conflicts of interest should not unduly limit the rights protected. The grounds for the removal of elected office holders should be established by laws based on objective and reasonable criteria and incorporating fair procedures.
The right of persons to stand for election should not be limited unreasonably by requiring candidates to be members of parties or of specific parties. If a candidate is required to have a minimum number of supporters for nomination this requirement should be reasonable and not act as a barrier to candidacy. Without prejudice to paragraph (1) of article 5 of the Covenant, political opinion may not be used as a ground to deprive any person of the right to stand for election.
State reports should describe the legal provisions which establish the conditions for holding elective public office, and any limitations and qualifications which apply to particular offices. Reports should describe conditions for nomination, e.g. age limits, and any other qualifications or restrictions", Edoh said.