From Magnus Eze, Enugu

A well-designed and conscious effort is on to get young people in Enugu State participate actively in governance at all levels, beginning from the community.

To this effect, the South Saharan Social Development Organisation (SSDO) and Actionaid Nigeria just concluded a three-day training for 30 community youths in the state on open governance engagement to endear good governance at the grassroots.

The programme, which was sponsored by Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), covered such areas as social audit and Freedom of Information Act, policy, tax, public finance, gender responsive public service and political education.

SSDO’s project lead on strategic partnership agreement II, Nkem Awachie, disclosed that the essence was to build capacity for young people on policy influencing and engender their keen participation in governance.

Awachie said that majority of the youths were drawn from rural communities in the state for them to be equipped with the basic knowledge and drive to hold the government accountable at the grassroots.

According to her, the training was also to motivate them to ask questions, follow budgetary and legislative procedures within their council areas as well as track government expenditures and actions.

In fact, she said the training was about impacting and sharing knowledge on basic things youths can do to sustain good governance and ensure that leaders at the council or community levels worked for the good and betterment of rural communities.

“The training covered issues of local government budget proposal, planning, preparation and evaluation/tracking, civic engagement on political education, political parties and electoral process as well as tax issues.

“They were tutored on gender responsive public service, how to build skills, knowledge and confidence on youth-led advocacy and how to influence governmental policies and programmes positively to effect desired change,” Awachie stated.

Executive Director of New Century Initiative, Collins Nebo, who was a resource person, said that bad governance had persisted at the grassroots because the locals lacked knowledge of the things ongoing at the local government.

He noted that some political office holders or leaders use intimidation and harassment to silence anybody that questions any action taken by them.

Nebo said: “The people, especially the youths do not have data or information on ongoing or proposed government projects and dealings as well as not knowing where to go and sources such information.

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“However, with this type of training and youths actively getting involved in their local politics and governance issues, the narrative will definitely change.”

He called for proper deployment of the Freedom of Information Act 2011, saying it was passed into law by government with the aim of increasing citizens’ participation in democratic governance.

He noted that civil society organizations have been using the FOI Act as a tool for engagement with different government ministries, departments and agencies with the view to get information on public service delivery.

However, Nebo said the process of using the FOI Act to obtain public accountability had been riddled with challenges.

“In Enugu State, there is low record of progress in government response to FOI Act, which from our findings indicated that some personnel serving in public sector at the state and local government levels are not knowledgeable on the use of the Act,” the CSO activist stated.

In his presentation on “Tax justice and expanding fiscal space for public social spending,” Celestine Odo urged the youths to be active in government’s budget process.

Odo, who stated that the most critical aspect of the governance process was budgeting, identified borrowing as a major source of expanding the fiscal space.

He said there was nothing bad about borrowing but advised that “we should borrow to invest, not for ostentatious lifestyle or paying salaries. Government should borrow to develop transportation, agriculture and other productive enterprises.”

Another resource person, Wilfred Okeke, described good governance as a right of the citizens, especially the youths, urging that young people must insist on it from public office holders.

“Our people should be wise and stop seeing politicians as doing them a favour when they work with people’s mandate and resources (money) to perform project(s) for the people in their localities,” Okeke said.

He challenged youths in rural communities to wake up to their civic responsibility of asking vital developmental questions and mobilising themselves to follow it up.

Uchenna Ayogu, a participant from Igbo-Eze North LGA, said he would share knowledge and mobilise youths in his community to find how to track ongoing government projects in his community. According to him, he and other youths must get involved in the local politics in order for “resources of our people to work for us.”