By Chidiebere Ugwu
Participants at the National Youth Convening, a leadership youth orientation programme organized by Youth Network for Community and Sustainable Development (YNCSD) on Saturday in Abuja, have said the event excited their interests in leadership at local, state and federal governance levels.
Timesreporters reports that National Youth Convening created a platform for discussions, networking, and collaboration among youth leaders and changemakers.
Speaking during the event, Olachi Ojimadu, Head of Programme and Operations YNCSD, said was designed basically to promote young people’s understanding of the processes of leadership at all the three tier levels of governance in the country, galvanizing them to not only sit back and criticize but understand the current processes.
“The programme went fantastic and it went really well. And this is Youth Network For Community and Sustainable Development, and this was our youth convening in commemoration of International Youth Day. And then, we had the YGAT Fellows, who are fellows that have been through like the boot camp, and they were involved in our Governance and Accountability programming that we had.
“They were activity involved in the last elections and more importantly, they have been groomed and they have gone through the process of understanding what it means to be a leader, how to be an effective leader. And they have also beyond learning, be empowered to carry out a community led activity that was championed and organized by them.
“We only just supported them to do that and in terms of sustainability we have made sure that they are from that geographic zone and are also have been able to follow up from the activities that they have started. And apart from their graduation, we also had members of the anti FGM network here also highlighting some of the work that they are doing in the network, with over 200 young people across Nigeria and then it was all of us just coming together to celebrate the importance of young people in governance and leadership as of today” she said.
Mr. Roland Ukwa, a board member of YNCSD, said is programme is meant for supporting young people in governance and ending Female Genital Mutilation FGM, adding that it’s about bringing together young people to learn about world best practices.
In his remarks, Zack Onwe, the Team Lead for YGAT Fellowship, and a beneficiary of the Programme, noted that Youth Governance Accountability Track Project, it is about Young People Participation in Politics, said the event was very enlightening as it was engaging.
“This Good Governance Accountability Sensitization Programme, generally, the project was very enlightening and very engaging. We became more informed when it has to do with good Governance, and also our roles, what we can do as young people to be involved in political participation” said Onwe.
Another beneficiary, Edelquinn Clementina Akighir, stated that she learnt alot about female genital mutilation during the event.
