Unite for stable, prosperous Nigeria, election winners, losers urged
WINNERS and losers in the February 25 presidential and National Assembly polls got a piece of advice yesterday from a youth empowerment organisation – I Am Change – they should collaborate to build a stable, prosperous country.
Its founder Hafsatu Shinkafi urged Nigerians to avoid statements or conducts that could aggravate the charged political situation.
Shinkafi, in a statement titled “2023 elections: matters arising and a call for calm”, urged for restraint and calm, adding that all aggrieved politicians should approach the courts for the resolution of their disputes.
Urging the judiciary to be fair and electoral winners to be magnanimous in victory, she noted that the entire political process is about the country’s stability and economic advancement.
She said: “The long-awaited Nigerian presidential election conducted on the 25th February 2023 has come to an end.
“As with all electoral, and indeed every political and democratic process, this election has ushered in varied perspectives, opinions and dispositions among Nigerians.
“You may recall that I Am Change organised a pre-election conference entitled 2023 Elections: Citizens’ Pre-Election Awareness and the Role of Stakeholders in Post-Election Stability on 26th January 2023, where major stakeholders, including INEC, Civil Society, Judiciary, the Media, Politicians and Security experts discussed extensively, the preparations, sociopolitical atmosphere and post-election issues.”
She noted that from the discussions at the conference, it was widely agreed that INEC was sufficiently prepared for the elections, while the security agencies did not shy away from indicating their readiness to protect Nigerians during and after the elections.
Shinkafi said: “As pointed out by legal experts, it was very likely that electoral results would end up being debated in the courtrooms, making the judiciary the final arbiters in the whole process.
“The electoral processes were largely peaceful, thanks to the gallant security agencies, despite a number of protests that followed the announcement of the results.
“The conduct of the aggrieved politicians has also been commendable as they have shown their intention to seek redress at the courts instead of resorting to violence. This is equally commendable in a democracy.”
She commended the President-elect Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party for extending an olive branch to the opposition parties in the interest of national unity.
Shinkafi said: “The news that the winning party has sought the cooperation of the opposition parties in an attempt to form a government of national unity and give the country a common political cause is deeply thoughtful and an important step towards healing the wounds, advancing national cohesion and promoting political progress of the country.
“Given the charged political situation, we deem it fit to call on all Nigerians to exercise restraint and stay calm, and all aggrieved politicians to approach the courts and not take the laws into their hands.
“The judicial system, empowered by the 2022 Electoral Act is well positioned to ensure justice and fairness to all Nigerians. We call on the judiciary to not compromise the system and to allow the law to take its natural course.
“Finally, we advise those who won to be magnanimous in victory and to all those who lost to accept their fate and support the winners to build our country. The whole process is about the stability and prosperity of Nigeria.”
Post Available on Media Site Here.
CSO to judiciary: Don’t compromise presidential election tribunal process
I Am Change, a civil society organisation (CSO), has called on the judiciary not to compromise the presidential election tribunal process.
Hafsatu Shinkafi, founder of the organisation, in a statement on Monday, commended security agencies for the peaceful conduct during the February 25 polls in the country.
“The long-awaited Nigerian Presidential Election conducted on the 25th February 2023 has come to an end. As with all electoral, and indeed every political and democratic process, this election has ushered in varied perspectives, opinions, and dispositions among Nigerians,” the statement reads.
“You may recall that I Am Change had organized a pre-election conference entitled 2023 Elections: Citizens’ Pre-Election Awareness and the Role of Stakeholders in Post-Election Stability on 26th January 2023, where major stakeholders, including INEC, Civil Society, Judiciary, the Media, Politicians, and Security experts discussed extensively, the preparations, sociopolitical atmosphere, and post-election issues.
“From the discussions at the conference, it’s widely agreed that INEC was sufficiently prepared for the elections, while the security agencies did not shy away from indicating their readiness to protect Nigerians during and after the elections.
“As pointed out by legal experts, it was very likely that electoral results would end up being debated in the courtrooms, making the judiciary the final arbiters in the whole process. The electoral processes were largely peaceful, thanks to the gallant security agencies, despite a number of protests that followed the announcement of the results.
“The conduct of the aggrieved politicians has also been commendable as they have shown their intention to seek redress at the courts instead of resorting to violence. This is equally commendable in a democracy.
“The news that the winning party has sought the cooperation of the opposition parties in an attempt to form a government of national unity and give the country a common political cause is deeply thoughtful and an important step towards healing the wounds, advancing national cohesion and promoting political progress of the country.
“Given the charged political situation, we deem it fit to call on all Nigerians to exercise restraint and stay calm, and all aggrieved politicians to approach the courts and not take the laws into their hands. The judicial system, empowered by the 2022 Electoral Act is well-positioned to ensure justice and fairness to all Nigerians.
“We call on the judiciary to not compromise the system and to allow the law to take its natural course.
“Finally, we advise those who won to be magnanimous in victory and to all those who lost to accept their fate and support the winners to build our country. The whole process is about the stability and prosperity of Nigeria.”
Post Available on Media Site Here.
Empower the Girl Child Project
Our daughters are the future of our country, beyond being our children, they are the future mothers that would shape the Children our tomorrow that is why we cannot afford to neglect them or overlook their Plight. Beyond every reasonable doubt should we continue to treat our daughters like second class weaker vessels, Nigeria would have slim or no chances.
Here is a clarion call to us all to build and re-build our nation builders. We must discourage discrimination, Child marriages and dehumanization against our daughters. Their rights and privileges must be advocated and we must collectively fight poverty in this respect.
This is why IAC is calling out to as many as interested voluntaries to put in their little token into the actualization of this modest Goal.
Leadership and Mentoring Academy
- Leadership and Mentoring Academy(LMA) is a programme of IAC and an umbrella group that will provide leadership skills, mentoring activities, mediation/reconciliatory efforts, diplomacy and youth advocacy activities in and around the North-Western/North Central States of Nigeria with the major tools being Information Technology Devices and Applications and via other technical/social skills acquisition programmes.
- Leadership & Mentoring Academy (LMA) providing Leadership & Mentoring guidance to youths from the designated target groups via the use of Information Technology as a tool for basic skills acquisition. Programs and courses will be designed in ways that will readily translate to positive action as well mitigate poverty, economically empower the youths and strengthen their capacity in areas related to finance, self-dependence and social inclusion.
- In order to achieve our training objective, the programs will be a fun, intensive, interactive and practical training workshops for specific period ranging between 12 -18 weeks or more. The approach will engender a mentor-protégé training/boot camp/skill acquisition program with the underlying theme on productive engagement, leadership, mentoring, career guidance, entrepreneurship development, counseling and social dialogue.
Role Of Youths In Politics In Nigeria
We use this medium to emphasis the need for meaningful opportunities for young people and highlights concerns about issues such as education, security, and political engagement. We also seek to engage with the youth, who constitute a significant portion of Nigeria’s population, to find solutions to these challenges.
“I am Change” is self-funded and focuses on uplifting disenfranchised youth by addressing issues like education, health, and drug abuse. The organisation undertakes various initiatives, including youth training programs, to make a positive impact on the lives of young Nigerians. The program’s goal is to harness the potential of the youth and ensure they have a voice and opportunities in shaping the future of the country. The organisation’s mission is to create positive change and provide opportunities for young people across Nigeria.
Role of Youths in Politics and the Future of Nigeria
Coming from a prominent political background, Hafsatu Ali Shinkafi runs an NGO that focuses on youth empowerment. Olawale Ajimotokan put her in the spotlight
I am Change founder, Hafsatu Shinkafi is leading the conversation on finding new role for youths in the Nigerian landscape. Her passion for the development and empowerment of the youth was manifest through the interview she gave at her Abuja office.
The estate developer is the daughter of the late Umaru Ali Shinkafi, a former Director General National Security Organisation (NSO) and a presidential aspirant during the botched Third Republic.
She also expressed contempt for political leaders for neglecting youths, who constitute the largest group in country, lamenting that many youths lack jobs and are often bypassed in the scheme of things.
Shinkafi read International Relations at International University of Geneva, Switzerland after doing her one year foundation course in the UK.
Last month, her NGO convened a symposium at the Baze University, Abuja to X-tray the challenges of the youth in the country. The theme of the discourse was: “Role of Youths in Politics and the Future of Nigeria”.
The initiative had as panelists, the founder of Youths Initiative for Advocacy and Growth (YIAGA), Samson Itodo, the President of National Youth Council of Nigeria, Bello Bala Shagari and the President of Student Council at Baze University, Rabi Mohammed.
The interactive session ventilated on the challenges youths are facing in Nigeria and sought solution to them.
“One of the things we discussed at the panel was, at the beginning of our country as a nation, it was the youths that were running the affairs. So why is it that it has changed now? So we are concerned that it is the elders that are ruling while youths have limited opportunities. The education system has collapsed, security is shattered. We are living in fear. That is one of the issues we brought up during our discussion. Why is that we have not been led properly the way they experienced, the way they were led by the past leaders? All they tell is to go and do it by yourselves,” Shinkafi fumed.
She also berated some politicians, for habitually conscripting youths as tools to commit political violence, to the extent of inducing them with intoxicants and hard drugs to fight on the street.
Shinkafi advocated for the enlightenment of the youths on the harm of these acts and for them to realise that they are only used by politicians, who will dump them once they get what they want and are elected into offices.
She similarly warned of the danger the country culd face for neglecting the youth, who are about 80 million and who constitute about 60 percent of the population.
“Our population is dominated by people under the age of 30, we cannot afford to neglect them because the numbers are absolutely huge. Japan has an aging population and a large number of their population are Octogenarians. On the other hand, we have the resources and demographics, which are unfortunately wasted because of lack of programmes for the youth. The education and the health sectors are in tatters, while we have one of the worst crisis in terms of girl child enrollment in school. We can’t continue to have people who are 90-80 year-old ruling a population that is 60 percent and below 30 years,” she stressed.
She offered that it was in order to extenuate the myriad of challenges bedeviling the youth sector that prompted her to set up I am Change in September 2015.
Shinkafi clarified that the NGO is self-funded and was founded to uplift the disenfranchised youths of the society and to ameliorate their challenges, such as lack of education and issues of health and drug abuse.
I am Change has no affiliation to any political party, she said. In September last year, the NGO undertook a project in Sokoto State with a grant received from the Sir Ahmadu Bello Foundation which it used to train about 100 youth in solar panel installation, IT skills and leadership.
Shinkafi also highlighted that given the unwholesome reputation of some NGOs, accessing foreign grants was becoming difficult because the donors all assumed their funds would not be used in the right way as much of the donations put into the country had not been judiciously expended.
She disclosed the inspiration to pursue youth employment came during her visit to the Red Cross in Geneva as an undergraduate. To her the trip was an eye opener that it is possible for ordinary people to make a change for the betterment of the society and the people.
Shinkafi similarly admitted she had found herself in trouble waters with her I am Change identity, which someone had ignorantly associated to be an appendage of the ruling party’s Change mantra. She insisted her NGO’s name has no political leaning whatsoever, adding that “Change” is a universal term.
“If you look around the world everybody is using ‘change’. It is unfair to box me into a political slogan controversy because I chose such a powerful and universal word for my organisation. That identity got me into so many troubles, you won’t believe it. Somebody once challenged me, because he erroneously linked us to a political party”.
She, however, defiantly insisted she would stick by the identity, saying once people begin to understand what the meaning and how powerful the name is they will also get on the train.
From a family that is synonymous with politics, Shinkafi gave a nod that reinforced a probe seeking to know if she is political given her background.
Her response:” Yes. I actually have politics all over my genes .In fact I am fully political. I used to joke I smell politics, but for now I have no interest in politics or in running for political office or election, but I am not saying I won’t practice politics all together. Right now, this NGO is my priority. And to also make a living is another priority of mine. I am into real estate that is what I do”.
She disclosed her dream in the next five years is to grow her organisation, have a bigger work force that would have impacted many people in the entire country, including southern Nigeria.
Nigeria’s ‘girl empowerment’ initiative
Diam maecenas sed enim ut sem. Aliquet enim tortor at auctor urna. Quam pellentesque nec nam aliquam sem et tortor consequat. Facilisi morbi tempus iaculis urna id volutpat lacus laoreet non.