The Labour Party (LP) has launched a comprehensive grassroots mobilisation strategy to restructure its state directorates, address organisational challenges from the 2023 general election, and strengthen its framework ahead of the 2027 elections.
As part of the initiative, the party will inaugurate state coordinators at its state secretariats across the country on Friday, marking a significant milestone in its political operations, reports Vanguard.
In a statement, the Director General of the LP Directorate of Mobilisation and Integration, Marcel Ngogbehei, and the Deputy Director of Strategic Engagements for the directorate, Sheikh Rufai Al-Saddiq, outlined the party’s plans to integrate new leadership and enhance collaboration with diverse grassroots groups.
The statement also emphasised the importance of aligning state directorates with state party chairmen and creating a stronger link between the party’s structures and support networks.
It reads, “We are marshaling out what we call a tactical plan for 2027; a three to six months plan, and we’re going to make it a very easy and straightforward one. We will restructure the Directorate and look forward to bringing in more hands that will take care of capabilities we’ve seen that are not currently in the directorate.
“So bringing more people, we’re going to set up the state Directorate. The state directorate will now have to work closely with each of the Labor Party state chairman and the Labor Party State National Working Committee.
“The state directorate will be that interface in their various states, and when that is done, we will now see and make some training and ensure that we are able to pull in conveners and then set up the Labor Party conveners council.
“The state directorate will be an interface in which to now engage with other diverse groups and probably help recruit more members, help integrate more diverse groups; the tailoring Association, mechanic Association, motoring Association, different associations.
“So, for the state directorate, we’re going to set up a team, the state coordinator, their Assistant state coordinator, the state secretary, and then one person representing his senatorial zones. This will come together to form the Labor Party state Directorate of mobilisation and integration management team.
“We are doing this because we want to solve one of the problems that we encountered in 2023 where there is no harmonious integration between the party and the support structure, where we could not individually identify people in terms of their integrity level or transparency level, and have some level of confidence in dealing with them.
“If the party starts now by putting up this structure, they will train people, watch them over time, and make sure they acquire the critical skills they will need to support structure for the party across all the states.
“So at the national level, we will set the strategy and be clear on what should be achieved. We would expect them to work with the Labor Party chairmen in their various states and implement them.
“During campaigns, we are not just going to pick up people that we don’t know. We already have people that we work with, and then they will help us to integrate some diverse groups and reach out and do a lot of grassroots engagement.
“So by integrating into an existing party structure, you take time to learn and grow your skills, and when you grow your skills, you could either decide to be part of the party structure, or you could remain as a supporting structure, or you could also decide to be a candidate down the line. But we want to build a web of trusted fellows with integrity, not the one that will do a grab and run or the one that has an ulterior motive. It is core loyalty to the party.
“We will measure our success by looking at the number of people we were able to recruit into the party, by looking at the number of coalitions we have been able to build within their state, and the number of diverse interest groups we were able to attract.”
