A non-governmental organisation, Greater Tomorrow Initiative (GTI), has trained 26 youths in various skills and capacity areas to assist them in functioning as Legislative Accountability Youth Champions.
This was done under the Youth Participation in Legislative Governance project, otherwise known as YouthPLAC (YPLAC).
The training was preceded by a brief formal opening ceremony where the Executive Director of GTI, Mr. Ndifreke Patrick, gave a broad overview of the project and the expectations from the Youth Champions in engaging robustly and effectively with their State House of Assembly members.
He opined that always when democratic governance is truncated, the arm of governance which represents the people – the legislature, suffers, saying, however, that the arm of government can be assisted to do its job of effective representation, policy making, and oversight functions of the Executive, a lot better; validating the critical roles the legislature plays in the democratic space and processes.
He charged the youth champions who have decided to volunteer on the cause to bring value, integrity and responsibility to bear in the discharge of their contributions in legislative governance with the state legislators.
A keynote speech was delivered by the representative of Rt. Hon. Onofiok Akpan Luke, the immediate-past chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Judiciary, who wholly aligned himself with objective of the project and charged the youth champions to bring on board value to the program and eschew vices that will be inimical to the success and positive outcomes for the project.
Rt. Hon. was, who waa ably represented by Mr. Udeme Okono, further recounted inaugurating a legislative internship program in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly to groom young people in the art of legislative governance, where he accomplished much by the success stories that have come out from the program.
He charged the champions to impact positively on the quality of legislation by their respective representatives.
Later in the training, different facilitators took the Youth Champions through varying sessions, ranging from legislative governance, role citizens must play in ensuring quality legislative governance, understanding advocacy, organizing for policy advocacy, and communicating with public officials.
Other sessions included legislative accountability from a budget lens perspective, and social media and accountability in governance. The champions were taken through practical sessions on advocacy tools and how to use them in engaging with state legislators, and how to use the social media as an effective advocacy tool to influence policy change.
At the end of the training sessions, the Youth Legislative champions were enthused about the learnings and all promised to follow through in engaging with their legislators given the impacts this will have on their constituents.
The 26 YPLAC champions who were screened and selected as volunteers were drawn from the 26 state constituencies in Akwa Ibom State and had to meet a basic set of requirements to be a part of the project.
The Youth Participation in Legislative Governance (YOUTH PLAC) Project is implemented by Greater Tomorrow Initiative under the Nigeria Youth Future Fund (NYFF) Project funded by LEAP Africa with joint support from Ford Foundation and MacArthur Foundation.
The project seeks to foster improved and accountable legislative governance through youth participation and engagement. 26 youth champions are expected to engage with the State House of Assembly members to foster youth participation, promote youth engagement in legislative functions, and engender an improved accountable legislature.
