Abuja 19-20 January, 2015 INEC Nigerian Youth Summit on 2015 Elections

Youth Declaration on Non-violent 2015 elections

Preamble

1.      A National Youth Summit on the 2015 Election was convened in Abuja, Nigeria from the 19-20 January 2015. The Summit was organized by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and youth focused civil society organizations with the support of the Democratic Governance for Development programme of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP/DGD). Participants included the representatives of young people from across Nigeria; the election management body; National Youth Service Corps, political parties as well as International Development Partners.

2.      The meeting focused on building strategies for enhancing effective and non-violent electoral participation in the 2015 elections and beyond.

3.      The objectives of the Summit included cultivating the resilience, ingenuity and responsiveness of young Nigerians in promoting electoral governance, credible and violence free 2015 elections; building and sustaining a culture of volunteerism and commitment to deepening electoral democracy in Nigeria, and to develop a framework for an INEC youth engagement strategy. This is in recognition of the critical role young people play in deepening electoral democracy.

4.      According to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, the population of youth aged between 15 and 35 years in Nigeria is estimated to be 64 million. This staggering statistic presents the potential inherent in the youth population in Nigeria.

Further to deliberations at the Summit, we, representatives of youth groups in Nigeria, declare the following:

1. That we take pride in INEC’s acknowledgement of the critical role young people play in election management as demonstrated by the commission’s use and institutionalization of young people as election management officials;

2.      That we recognize that the power of the government is derived from the people to whom the government ought to be accountable and therefore reaffirm our commitment to the cardinal underlying principle of democracy hinged on the concept of democratic participation;

3.      That we reaffirm our commitment to active citizens participation in the electoral process throughout the entire spectrum of the electoral cycle;

4.      That we commend and strongly support the commitment of the 14 Presidential Candidates and their parties to ensure credible and nonviolent Elections, in the framework of the ‘Abuja Accord’. Wherein they agreed to take proactive measures to prevent electoral violence before, during and after the elections and re-affirmed their commitment to Nigeria's constitution;

5.      That we undertake to support the Presidential candidates to guarantee that the hopes embedded in that document are fully achieved. We commit to hold them accountable to their voluntary commitment;

6.      That we pay tribute to those who have lost their lives in previous elections, remembering our fallen comrades, the 11 NYSC Corps Members who brutally lost their lives on election duty and those who suffered as victims of election violence.

7.      That in responding to these threats to peaceful and credible elections, we recognize the vital importance of the youth acting together. We therefore affirm our determination to ensure that our participation at this election will be full, meaningful and devoid of violence.

WE THE YOUTHS OF NIGERIA FURTHER;

8.      AGREE to support the efforts of the INEC and Security Operatives in ensuring peaceful elections;

9.      UNDERTAKE to strengthen our efforts to stand up against threats to peaceful elections including inciting comments, hate speech, religious and primordial sentiments and poor sportsmanship;

10. PLEDGE to be Ambassadors of non-violent elections using various ICT/social media and offline platforms to propagate peace messages and promote issue based civic engagement at local, state and national levels;
11. RESOLVE to reject any form of inducement by politicians to be used as political thugs or merchants of violence pre, during and post 2015 elections; 

12.  AFFIRM our commitment to join our efforts with INEC in achieving the goals of the ‘INEC Youth Engagement Strategy’.

A Message from Independent National Electoral Commission:

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