A non-governmental organisation, championing the cause of youths’ participation in politics, Yiaga Africa, has called for a law that will restrict political parties from charging exorbitant sums for nomination forms for those who want to run for public office.
The organisation noted that the exorbitant amount charged by some of the political parties reduced the number of youths that should have taking part in the 2023 general elections.
Yiaga Africa in its report presented at a media parley tagged “media roundtable on youth reporting in the 2023 general elections” held in Lagos, stated that in its research and findings the decline in youth candidacy is evident in the rate of young female candidacy.
The report presented by Ibrahim Faruk and Olaniyan Sanusi stated that apart from huge nomination fees imposed on the candidates by most of the political parties, the party primaries failed to meet the test of fairness and equity, because in cases where some of the parties granted concessions to women, it was not backed by concrete steps to secure emergence of young female candidates.