…decries poor participation of young candidates in politics
Apparently positioned to encourage younger Nigerians in vying for legislative seats across the country, a civil society group, under the auspices of Yiaga Africa has promised to dole out $20,000 to any lawmaker elected at the state and federal level who makes his or her mark in legislative duties.
Samson Itodo, Executive Director, Yiaga Africa made the pledge on Tuesday in Abuja, while speaking at a programme Convergence 5.0: Nigeria’s Largest Gathering of Young Legislators.
He said lawmakers that would qualify for the prize money must be under 35 years of age, either at the State or Federal legislature, and would be assessed based on the number of bills sponsored and level of contributions to legislative proceedings.
Itodo decried the level of participation of young candidates in the country, despite the not-too-young-to-run act in place.
He said he believes the prize money of $20,000 would spore young Nigerians to vie for elective offices to contribute their quota to nation-building.
Meanwhile, Director of Programmes, Yiaga Africa, Cynthia Mbamalu corroborated Itodo when she said that Convergence 5.0 represents the largest gathering of young legislators in Nigeria as a platform created for young legislators to learn from experts in the field on how best to effectively deliver leadership.
According to Mbamalu, the platform is for young elected representatives to learn how to build power and how to best navigate the politics in the National and State Assemblies, hence the theme, leadership, power politics.
She lamented that despite the signing of the Not-Too-Young-To-Run Act into law by the immediate past administration, prospects of having more young people in politics have not been too encouraging.
“In 2019, we celebrated about 13 young people in the House of Representatives, which was a far increase from where we were in 2015.
“We also had 20 young people who are under 30 years old, who won the elections in 2019 in the State Assemblies, two women under 35 years old won that election.
“In 2023 we hoped for better but yes, it did not go the way we were expecting but we still have things to celebrate. For the first time since our transition to democracy in 1999. We can proudly say that in the House of Representatives, we have two lawmakers who are between 25 and 29 years old, the youngest ever, that is progress but not enough.
“This is because, in the House of Reps, we just have 14 under 35 years old who won the elections. At the state level, there are 92 under-35-years-old who won the elections.
“For the women, it is still a sad story as we have four lawmakers who are under 35 years old that are women,” she stated at the Convergence 5.0 event.
[DailyIndependent]