Honoring Heroes of Human Rights and Democracy in Nigeria
On May 25, Nigeria’s Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), a coalition of more than 60 Nigerian civic organizations, received the 1999 Democracy Award of the National Endowment for Democracy. The TMG was honored for its extraordinary efforts to mobilize civil society to defend Nigerian democracy in that country’s recent elections. The TMG trained and deployed nearly 11,000 Nigerians across the country to observe the voting on election day. It also monitored the pre-election period and organized campaigns of civic education to motivate and mobilize citizens to participate in the voting.
The award was presented by U.S. Representative Donald Payne (D-N.J.) and was accepted on behalf of the TMG by Clement Nwankwo, the Chair of TMG’s Coordinating Committee.
There were many distinguished speakers on hand including:
- Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Pickering
- U.S. Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.)
- Chairman of the House International Relations Committee Benjamin Gilman (R-N.Y.)
- Chairman of the House Africa Subcommittee Edward Royce (R-Calif.)
- Representative Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.)
