Following the launch of the SixtyPercentOfUs project by Yiaga Africa and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Yiaga Africa is building collaborations with partner Civil Society Organizations to mobilise 29 million youths to vote in the 2023 general elections, by empowering them with 10 million Naira sub-grants each.
The partner organisations are NESSACTION Initiative, #WeVote and Dean Initiative who are all focused on youth political participation.
These sub-grantees of the #SixtyPercentOfUs project will support the implementation of the project through innovative and result-oriented activities aimed at increasing youth turnout for elections by 60% with a focus on states with low voter registration.
In his remarks, Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo emphasised that the goal of the project is to increase youth voter turnout in elections, and so the intention of the collaboration is to move every partner from point A to B in their programs implementation. He also pledged the support of Yiaga Africa in terms of Human Resources, financial management and risk management.
The organisations are going to be carrying out activities that are aimed at increasing youth participation in the continuous voter registration processes, Permanent Voters Cards collection rate in any of the selected states, and most importantly, activities that will result in high voter turnout in the 2023 general election.
The project aims to leverage the large number of potential first-time voters who are young people. This increase in the level of first-time voters provides an opportunity for young people to determine the next set of leaders for the country through their participation in active citizenship.
“We are grateful to be receiving this sub-grant, alongside other respected partners, and hope to do our best towards the goal of the #SixtyPercentOfUs project,” said Eniola Cole, the Executive Director of NESSACTION Initiative.
“Nigerian youths must begin to recognize and engage elections as a veritable lever for creating positive change. If 60% of youths vote in 2023, that change will happen, said Obinna Osisuogu, the Convener, WeVote. “We know that it’ll require concerted effort to achieve this, which is why WeVote is excited for the partnership and support of YIAGA and UNDP on this project.”
The #SixtyPercentOfUs project will run until the end of December 2022.
