As the nation move toward the general election of 2023, Yiaga Africa in a piece of recent information has urged young women to take an active part in democratic processes and become involved in political posts.
While meeting with journalists at a four-day Community Organizing Training (COT) for young women in Lagos, Cynthia Mbamalu, Director of Programs, Yiaga Africa, highlighted the need to build leadership capacity amongst younger women and also prepare them to take charge and take ownership of the process.
“This one is specially designed for women because as yiaga Africa we believe it is time for women leadership and if we must achieve women leadership we need to also build leadership capacity amongst younger women and also prepare them to take charge and take ownership of the process,’’ she said.
Stating that young women play a vital role in the development of democracy in Nigeria, Ms Mabmalu said the training will be focused around organizing for change, things around building structures that can annex the powers of the people in the communities, things around identity and how you can use that identity to inspire a lot of things.
“we will be using this platform to learn from stories from the past with people like Fumilayo Ransome Kuti, stories of Kajara Gambo from the north, Magret Ekpo, the daughter of Usman Dan Fodio, we will be looking at this women from stories from the past to inspire and learn from them, how can we leverage that for today’’.
Dr. Matthew Ayibakuro, a governance adviser with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), also spoke to journalists, stating that the FCDO has been a strong supporter of democracy in Nigeria and that he thinks it holds a lot of promise for the country’s citizens.
He charged young women to exercise that freedom that democracy provides for them in their aspiration to ensure that democracy strengthens Nigeria
