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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Application Deadline: 16 January 2015
Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) seeks top graduate students with analytical and project management backgrounds for its Climate Corps Fellowship program 2015. Students who want to launch their green career and are excited to make an impact through smart energy management can apply. Fellows are chosen for their ability to do technical and financial analyses, manage projects and help facilitate organizational change.
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Eligibility Criteria

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Application Deadline to apply : 17 January 2015
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Deadline: 9 January 2015
Women in developing countries with demonstrated leadership in a development sector for at least four years who are still considered an emerging leader are invited to submit applications for the Global Change Leaders Program. This is a program by the Coady International Institute, Canada.
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AN ADDRESS BY DR. ANTHONIA CHIEBONAM EKWO, ON THE OCCASSION OF A SENSITIZATION WORKSHOP FOR CORP MEMBERS ON INEC AMBASSADOR - ROLE FOR YOUTH CORPS MEMBERS, HELD ON 20TH AND 21ST NOVEMBER, 2014 AT THE NYSC ORIENTATION CAMP AWGU, ENUGU STATE

 An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a highest ranking diplomat who represents a State and usually accredited to another sovereign State or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sovereign or appointed for a special and often temporary diplomatic assignment.  The word is also often used more liberally for persons who are known, without national appointment to represent certain profession, activities and fields of endeavor.

The word was first used in 14^th century and has Germanic Origin; “German ambaht” which means “service”.

General Duties of an Ambassador

An Ambassador must have refined diplomacy skills.  He can be paid or unpaid, and can represent a country, corporation or private organization; his main role is to portray his country, corporation or organization in a positive light.

(a)  Public Relations: An ambassador must strive to maintain a good image of the entity he represents at all times. He must sometimes interface between the two states. Thus, he must understand the basics of good public relations.

(b) Education:  One key role of an ambassador is to educate members of the public about her country, corporation or organization. This could be achieved through informal, everyday conversation and formal outreach efforts.

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©        Diplomacy: An Ambassador is expected to be highly diplomatic because he must sometimes deal with people and situations with high potentials for conflict.  Diplomacy is a key skill for all managers.  Ambassadors are managers in certain ways.

(d) Advisory: An Ambassador acquires experiences, knowledge and information from the host state to the entity he represents.  This could help the corporation provide advice for better legislative advocacy.

(e)  Policy: Ambassadors relay policy stances and decisions to the foreign government organizations they associate with.  In some cases, they may negotiate, (trade) make security agreements or help facilitate joint policy statements.  Ambassadors work to create good will in the host state by facilitating cultural exchanges etc. between the states.

The ambassador’s role today

1.     A Foreign Service delegated responsibility of the ambassador is to safeguard, protect and promote the image, reputation and interests of the sending state, corporations or organization.  The basic functions of the diplomatic mission are: representative negotiation, observation, gathering information, and protection of the interests of his state, corporation or organization.  His task is also to work for the fundamental development of economic, cultural and scientific relations to promote cooperation and essentially to maintain and strengthen the friendly relations between the two states.

2.     In the field of bilateral relationship, the representative of a state accredited to another is called the “ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary”, which indicatesthat his country/state sent him at the highest diplomatic level with full authority to act on his behalf.

3.     In the field of “ad hoc” diplomacy in special mission, there exists also the rank of ambassador.  In these cases the officer designated to preside over a special mission is often accredited as “Ambassador Extraordinary Special Mission” or as Ambassador at large or as a “roving ambassador” when the special mission includes more than one state.

4.     An Ambassador should be properly informed about the relationship between the state and organization he/ she represents and the host state/ organization including the results that his/ her state intends to obtain from this relationship as a whole and also on specific issues. It is for this reason that the Enugu state INEC management staff are here in your midst. The formal MoU between INEC and NYSC makes it expedient that Youth Corps members are well informed of their role as INEC Ambassadors.

THE ORIGIN OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INEC AND NYSC.

Late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua his bid to improve the electoral system made electoral reforms a cardinal issue in his seven- point agenda in 2007.  NYSC was among the organizations considered as being capable of improving the electoral system, Youth Corps members who were Ambassadors from their home states sent toother host states to render services for our Nation, exchange cultural heritage etc. were called up to participate as relevant officials at elections.  The reasons why INEC chose corps members were based on the following:

(i)                Section 1 sub-section 3 (c) of the NYSC Act states inter-Alia that among others, the objective of the NYSC is “to develop in the Nigerian Youths the attitude of mind acquired through shared experience and suitable training which will make them amenable to mobilization in the national interest”.

(ii)              The grass root posting policy of the NYSC ensures national spread of corps members.

(iii)            Statutorily corps members are not to participate in partisan politics.

(iv)            Corps members are not likely to be enmeshed in local politics.

(v)              Corps member could be held accountable by the NYSC, INEC and Nigerians.

The first assignment performed by NYSC for INEC           is the

Participation of Corps Member in the conduct of Bye/Re-run Elections in Kogi state.

The collaboration between INEC and NYSC commenced on 20^th February, 2008 via a formal letter from INEC referenced number INEC/OPS/S.32/001/11/46 soliciting the assistance of Youth corps members as  polling clerks in the conduct of Kogi State Governorship re-run elections held on 29^th March, 2008.  The collaboration was without formal agreement.

On 29^th November, 2010 during a sensitization workshop for management staff organized by International Republican Institute (IRI) in Abuja, the MOU formalizing the collaboration between INEC and NYSC was signed jointly by the Director – General NYSC and secretary of the Commission. To ensure the full implementation of the MOU, a Bilateral Committee comprising top management officers from INEC and NYSC was also inaugurated on same date.  This bi-lateral relationship between INEC and NYSC made the Youth Corps members “Ambassadors Extraordinary and plenipotentiary” of INEC.

The roles of Youth Corps members as INEC Ambassadors include the following;

1.     The Youth Corps members participating at every Election must handle their assignment with utmost transparency and accountability.

2.     The loyalty of corps members to INEC and to the Federal Republic of Nigeria must be absolute.  They are to politely shun all entreaties and pressures from persons or groups to shift or divert their loyalty in any way.

3.     All corps members must shun all forms of bribery and gratification.

4.     Corps members must ensure that as much as possible they do not stray to unknown or undisclosed destinations.

5.     Corps members must at all time carry their NYSC ID Cards and identification tags provided by INEC during the exercises.

6.     Corps members must politely refuse food, drinks or any form of gift from politicians or philanthropist other than from NYSC or INEC officials.

7.     Corps members participating in the exercises must be properly kitted throughout the duration.

8.     Corps members are expected to play ad-hoc supervisory roles during electoral activities involving them.

9.     They are expected to work as Registration Officers, Assistant Registration Officers during Registration exercises and as Presiding and Assistant Presiding Officers during elections with high sense of dedication, patriotism and commitment.

10.                      Corps members and staff are not in any way authorized to speak to the press on electoral matters.

11.                      Corps members must report on time at their duty posts and remain there until they return to their master points during exercises

12.                     Corps members must immediately draw the attention of NYSC, INEC and/or security officers to any potentially dangerous situation.

13.                      Corps members are answerable to NYSC and INEC officials only.

14.                     Corps member must endeavor to work within the stipulated guide lines.

15.                     They must avoid any form of confrontation/argument.

16.                     Corps members particularly in the exercises must avail their phone numbers and keep their lines open at all times.  In addition, they are to obtain the phone numbers of relevant NYSC/INEC schedule officers or security agencies around them.

17.                     Corps members are expected to comport and conduct themselves with humility, respect and decorum in case of grievances arising from the exercises. They should follow proper channels of communication in making known their grievances.

In conclusion, NYSC provides in so far as it is capable, the number of corps members required by INEC at Elections. The role of corps members as INEC Ambassador is imbedded in the bilateral Memorandum of Understanding between INEC and NYSC. It is a mutual participation of NYSC /INEC to ensure effective free and fair electoral process. The Youth Corps members being the “Extraordinary and plenipotentiary”  Ambassadors of INEC are expected to play their roles in line with the view of Alain Plantey, the prominent French jurist, who summed up the tasks of an Ambassador, as “The Ambassador must act with patience and firmness, with prudence and perseverance, not to be fooled by maneuvers of distraction or intimidation.

Thank you.

DR. ANTHONIA CHIEBONAM EKWO

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Target Audience: 18-35years
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The lifecycle of any venture is a learning process for the entrepreneur. At CcHub, we believe there is a strong place for exploring the knowledge gained by significant players in the tech industry to support new/existing ventures embarking on similar journeys towards success.

In light of this, CcHUB invites you to join them for “A Conversation With…” – an interactive experience providing budding tech entrepreneurs the opportunity to ask and get answers to burning questions that are most beneficial to the growth of their ventures from the perspective of leaders of significant venture-funded tech companies in the ecosystem.

This edition will be a high-powered Q&A session bringing together Sim Shagaya(Founder & CEO, Konga Online Shopping), Ayodeji Adewunmi(Co-Founder & CEO, Jobberman), Jason Njoku(Founder & CEO, iROKO), and Tayo Oviosu (Founder & CEO, Paga) to share insights on launching and growing a technology startup in Nigeria.

Date: 4th December, 2014

Time: 4-7pm

Venue: CcHUB, 6th Floor, 294 Herbert Macaulay Way, Sabo, Yaba.

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