Trust Makanidzani survived Cyclone Idai and had his career put on hold during Covid-19 pandemic is back on the greens, but despite his talent, his future depends on the generosity of funders. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe/IPS

By Farai Shawn Matiashe
CHIMANIMANI, Zimbabwe, Apr 11 2023 (IPS)

Trust Makanidzani’s golf practice session with his friends is disrupted by a howling wind and a heavy pelting of water that thundered against rooftops at Chimanimani Golf Course in the eastern part of Zimbabwe.

The downpour that started the previous night continued throughout the day, with a high probability of lasting several days.

This incessant rain and wind remind the 20-year-old of the horror he experienced in March 2019 when Cyclone Idai made landfall.

It got worse when the government issued a notice that Zimbabwe was in the path of Cyclone Freddy, and its massive destruction had already been felt in neighbouring Mozambique and Madagascar.

Cyclone Freddy, the long-lasting tropical storm, went on to wreak havoc in Malawi in March, claiming the lives of more than 430 people, according to government officials.  Regionally at least 600 deaths have been reported. The severity of tropical storms has been attributed to the impacts of climate change.

Makanidzani remembers the night Cyclone Idai visited his village.

“Heavy rains started on Wednesday. I remember I had just returned from Mutare. The rains did not stop. Most people here just thought there was nothing unusual,” Makanidzani, who was aged 16 in 2019, tells IPS.

Then on a Friday, the rains intensified.

Some friends came to seek shelter in Makanidzani’s room as theirs had been filled with water.

“We were now five in the room. As we were about to sleep, there was a bang outside,” he recalls adding that he was dragged for about a kilometre after their house had been washed away by a landslide.

“When I gained consciousness, my whole body was covered under mud and twigs on the banks of a river, (and I was) alone.”

He says he used the light from lightning to see his way to a nearby house where he sought shelter.

“It was dark, and I started feeling nervous,” he says, holding back his tears.

Makanidzani, who was not feeling any pain, collapsed after taking a hot cup of tea only to gain consciousness while admitted at Chimanimani Hospital.

“This is when I realised I had a grave head injury, and my legs and hands were broken,” he says.

At this time, Makanidzani also learned that his three friends had not survived the deadly storm.

Cyclone Idai hit the eastern part of Zimbabwe, including Chipinge and Chimanimani districts in Manicaland Province, from March 15 to 17, 2019, affecting about 270 000 people.

The floods and landslides claimed the lives of 340 people, while many went missing and are still unaccounted for.

Cyclone Idai, which also hit Mozambique and Malawi, displaced about 51 000 people in Zimbabwe.

The World Bank estimates the damages amount to USD 622 million in Zimbabwe.

Makanidzani, who had been playing golf since 2012 under Matsetso Stars Sport to Conservation, was transferred to Chipinge Hospital and later admitted for six months at a hospital about 150 kilometres away in Mutare, Zimbabwe’s third largest city.

Before Cyclone Idai came, he was a top junior golfer working to become a professional representing Zimbabwe regionally and internationally.

Makanidzani picked up himself and returned to golf when he was discharged from the hospital, participating in tournaments in Mutare and the capital Harare.

After having his golf career disrupted by Covid-19, which forced the cancellation of the Junior Golf Challenge and the Toyota World Junior Championship in 2021, he was supposed to participate as part of Zimbabwe’s 12-member squad, Makanidzani is now playing as an amateur golfer.

In Zimbabwe, golf is a sport seen by many as only reserved for the elite, and it is rare for young people from remote areas like Chimanimani to play the sport and excel at it.

Some Matsetso stars junior golfers, like 16-year-old Vincent Chidambazina, have gone to play at tournaments beyond the borders.

“I flew to Lukasa, Zambia, to play golf last year. It was my first time being aboard an aeroplane. It was so amazing. I did not even have a passport at the time. I had to apply for one,” says Chidambazina, who was introduced to golf by his nephew when he was still in primary school.

He played at golf tournaments in different parts of the country, including Harare and Bulawayo, the second-largest city.

“It feels good to rub shoulders with the elite and to play better than them. I thought I could not make it considering I am from the rural area, but here I am, one of the top juniors,” says Chidambazina, whose neighbours’ houses were wiped away by Cyclone Idai, leaving his family home intact but shaken.

Makanidzani says funding is holding them back.

“I fail to travel to other cities for golf tournaments due to lack of funds. This is a huge setback to my golf career because if I do not play, I do not get points,” he says.

Makanidzani’s concerns are reiterated by Chidambazina, who says they lack critical resources such as balls, golf clubs and ball markers.

“My family is so supportive, but they are hamstring. They cannot sponsor my trips,” he says.

Jane Lindsay High, who established Matsetso Stars Sport to Conservation in 2010 to help children in the poorest area of Chimanimani who had limited access to sports facilities and qualified coaches with resources, says they rely on donor funding.

“Donor funding is never a sustainable way of development,” says High, who is also the owner and manager of Frog and Fern Cottages in Chimanimani.

“But in the absence of trusted political leadership at the community level, then one way of helping [them] is for trusted individuals to seek assistance.”

Since 2010 some 100 children have been introduced to golf, and of those, approximately 17 have represented Manicaland at the provincial level while two at the national level, shows figures from High.

In Zimbabwe, golf personalities like professional golfer Robson Chinhoi and Biggie Chibvuri are earning a living from playing golf.

Trust Makanidzani and Vincent Chidambazina with other golf players after their training session was disrupted by heavy rain in Chimanimani in March. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe/IPS

“Most of these kids are talented. Golf provides many opportunities. Golf players can get scholarships. Both golf and education are the keys to success in golf, says Matsetso Stars Sport to Conservation golf coach Amos Kunyerezera who has been playing golf for decades, launching his career at a popular hotel in the Vumba Mountains, sandwiched at the border between Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

Martin Chikwanha, president of the Zimbabwe Golf Association, says funding for golf and any sport in Zimbabwe has not been the best.

“This is because of the economic challenges that the country is going through. Most of the golf activities are funded by the Zimbabwe Golf Association or Zimbabwe Junior Golf Association. Members pay subscription fees. We also have funding from our international partners,” he says, adding that they do not receive any funding from the government.

Chikwanha tells IPS they are running a programme where they provide funding to junior golf players in areas like Chimanimani to facilitate their participation in golf national, regional and international golf tournaments.

He says they have come up with a programme called “train the trainer”  to ensure that golf is taken to the rural areas.

“This is to ensure that we spread the word and we try to find those little diamonds from everywhere throughout the country,” he says.

“But it is difficult because of the nature of the sport once the diamond has been discovered; the diamond can only play at a golf course. So some kids in areas like Buhera can only play at their nearest golf course, which is Mutare,” Chikwanha said, noting that it takes a huge amount of funding for the children to participate.

Chikwanha says golf courses are not a common feature in comparison to football, where you can find a football ground everywhere in Zimbabwe.

“Golf courses are always specific to places. Once you reach the golf course, you also need equipment which is something that you need money to pay for. But that is doable. We try to support those with interest. Golf is not an elite sport. It is open to everyone,” he says.

Makanidzani, clad in black trousers and a white sweater, hopes to travel around Africa and beyond representing Zimbabwe.

“It is my wish that I secure a sponsorship. So that I can play as an amateur golfer and later become a professional playing at an international level,” he says.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
  

Delegates at the Arab and Asian Parliamentarians’ Meeting to Follow-Up on ICPD25 Commitments: Addressing Youth Empowerment and Gender-Based Violence, held in Jakarta, Indonesia held in Jakarta, Indonesia. Credit: APDA

By Cecilia Russell
JOHANNESBURG, Mar 13 2023 (IPS)

Child marriage, gender-based violence (GBV), sexuality education, religion, and tradition came under the spotlight during a conference, Arab and Asian Parliamentarians’ Meeting to Follow-Up on ICPD25 Commitments: Addressing Youth Empowerment and Gender-Based Violence, held in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Professor Keizo Takemi, MP Japan, Chair of the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD), reminded delegates that GBV is on the rise in conflict situations, during disasters, and during the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

“Furthermore, children in some countries are at higher risk of child marriage due to economic pressures and school closures caused by the pandemic. Globally, about one in five (21 percent) girls are married before the age of 18. Child marriage not only deprives girls of educational opportunities, but early pregnancy and childbearing also come with a higher risk of complications and death.

Pierre Bou Assi, MP Lebanon, President of the Forum of Arab Parliamentarians on Population and Development (FAPPD), told the delegates it was necessary to acknowledge and confront the issues of GBV in the region. It was clear from a series of case studies from the Arab and Asia Pacific region that while there has been some success, there was plenty of work to do.

Dr Dede Yusuf Macan Effendi, MP for Indonesia and Chair of the Indonesian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (IFPPD), said the country had had some successes – for example, the incidence of GBV dropped from 33 percent in 2016 to 26 percent in 2021. However, many incidents were unreported, and this was considered “the tip of the iceberg.”

Effendi noted the region’s issues – like the high proportion of child marriage and exposure to HIV/Aids.

Dr Hasto Wardoyo, the chairperson of BKKBN, said parliamentarians played a critical role, with various “studies suggesting that the government should take steps such as increasing care capacity and access to services such as health services, social services, developing children’s abilities, opening and equalizing access, strengthening family and social bonds.”

A professor from UIN Jakarta, Dr Nur Rofiah, gave a perspective from Islam and said the religion had a  concept of maslahah or goodness. This recognizes women’s bodily experiences are different from men’s, and it would be important to consider actions that “cause painful experiences for women’s bodies, including gender-based injustice.”

Rofiah emphasized the adverse effects of child marriage for women saying that child brides lost out on their childhood, dropped out of school, experienced domestic violence, often were adversely impacted by divorce, were stigmatized by being widowed, lacked competitiveness in the work environment, very often experienced single parenthood and were susceptible to child marriage.

COVID-19 had impacted the ICPD25 programme of action, especially on health care, with malaria and tuberculosis neglected, as was gender equality, said  Nadimul Haque, an MP in India. The Regional Sexual and Reproductive Health Adviser, UNFPA ASRO Professor Hala Youssef, developed this theme, saying policymakers need to change strategy during this decade of action to 2030 – without which it would be difficult to achieve the goals. She called on delegates to move from the idea of “funding” ICPD goals to “financing” them. Funding was reliant on the government, but financing involved the wider society.

Delegates took a deep look at the pressing issues of child marriage, sexuality education, religion and gender-based violence during the Arab and Asian Parliamentarians’ Meeting to Follow-Up on ICPD25 Commitments: Addressing Youth Empowerment and Gender-Based Violence meeting held in Jakarta, Indonesia. Credit: APDA

Youssef called on parliamentarians to concentrate on the needs of young people, people with disabilities, universal health coverage, budgetary and financial allocations, social determinants of health, maternal deaths among adolescent girls, strengthening health workforce numbers, and capacity building.

The case study presented by Professor Ashraf Hatem, an MP from Egypt, showed that his country’s Universal Health Insurance (UHI) would soon remove the issue of what he called “catastrophic health expenditure” of the poor. The scheme rolled out in phases, would decrease out-of-pocket expenditure from 62 percent to 32 percent in 2032.

The government was subsidizing about 35 percent of the population. He gave an example of open heart surgery done in a UHI facility that would cost a patient 300 Egyptian pounds or about USD 10.

A grim picture of the social, psychological, economic, and medical burdens resulting from unintended pregnancies in her country was painted by Soukaina Lahmouch, an MP from Morocco. While there had been an improvement in the legal arsenal regarding abortion, marriage, and access to quality health services, much was still to be done. She explained that in Morocco, about 153 newborns are born out of wedlock each day, of which 24 children are abandoned at birth.

About 11,4 percent of pregnant women still received no prenatal care; however, in rural areas, about one-fifth of mothers received no prenatal care, and 13.4 percent gave birth without the assistance of qualified personnel.

“More than half of the women affected by poverty do not seek follow-up during pregnancies,” Lahmouch said, adding that education was a determinant, with almost all women with secondary school education giving birth in a health facility, but those without education more likely to give birth at home.

About 12 percent of women were married under 18, and a recent survey showed that 62.8 percent of women aged between 18 and 64 experienced violence during the year before the survey.

Dr Suhail  Alouini, a former MP of Tunisia, quoted a World Bank study, saying 18 percent of women were married before 18 in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region. While in many countries, the legal minimum age for marriage is set at 18, there were exceptions for the marriage of underage individuals due to court decisions.

Alouini said conflict and displacement increased the risk of GBV, including sexual violence and forced marriages.

“In some conflict-affected areas in the Arab region, the rates of child marriage have increased, and the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a surge in reports of GBV in the Arab region and around the world. The pandemic also disrupted efforts to prevent child marriage as school closures and economic hardships made girls more vulnerable to early marriage.”

He noted that GBV and child marriage requires a comprehensive and multi-sectorial approach focusing on prevention response and political leadership, and ICPD25 recommendations provide a road map for action emphasizing the importance of investing in data and research and engaging a wide range of stakeholders and political leadership. The role of parliamentarians is critical in addressing GBV and child marriage.

Laissa Alamia, MP of Bangsamoro Transition Authority, Philippines, spoke about the situation in the self-governing region and the Philippines.

“One in four Filipino women aged 15 to 49 experienced physical, emotional, and sexual violence by their partner or husband. One in six Filipino girls finds herself married before hitting the age of 18.”

This is the case even though the Philippines is known for its “most vibrant woman’s rights movement and the most comprehensive anti-GBV legal frameworks and mechanisms in the world.”

Bangsamoro region is disproportionately poor, and 62 percent of the women belonged to poor communities; the approximate number of child brides was 88,600 out of a population of 2.46 million women.

He said ethnic minority Muslim women continue to face different forms of discrimination, and the code of Muslim personal laws in the country gives a prescribed age for marriage of 15 for men and 15 or at puberty for females.

Alamia said the Philippines law, which prohibits child marriages, is not universally accepted by all communities and brings up religious freedom debates.

Dr Jetn Sirathranont, MP Thailand, noted in his closing remarks that there was still a long way to go to achieve the ICPD25 programme of action, but he hoped this conference would give an impetus to finding solutions.

Tomoko Fukuda, Regional Director of IPPF ESEAOR, encouraged parliamentarians to continue their work on the ICPD programme of action, despite conflicting priorities.

“So we as the older generation have to be committed to ensuring that the world is a better place for the young people and the children born into this world,” she said.

Anjali Sen, UNFPA Representative in Indonesia, shared a study by Schneider and Hirsch in 2020 that showed that “comprehensive sexuality education meets the characteristics of an effective GBV prevention … comprehensive sexuality education is based on human rights and gender equality.”

She called for it to be implemented, stating that it needed support and involvement from teachers, parents, healthcare providers, young people, and the government. Parliamentarians had a role in ensuring that policy and financial support were available.

Note:. This conference was organized by APDA and FAPPD, hosted by IFPPD and supported by UNFPA and Japan Trust Fund (JTF).

IPS UN Bureau Report

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
  

Delegates at the Youth Empowerment: Education, Employment and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights forum held in Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia. Credit: APDA

By Cecilia Russell
JOHANNESBURG, Mar 8 2023 (IPS)

With more than 600 million youth aged between 18 and 24 in the Asia and Pacific region, putting their issues front and center is crucial. Speakers at a recent forum, Youth Empowerment: Education, Employment and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, held in Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia, agreed that policy development and implementation should be youth-centered.

Professor Keizo Takemi, MP (Japan) and Chair of the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD), reminded parliamentarians of the work ahead when he noted in his opening address that while youth were “innovative thanks to global digitalization, half are unemployed or underemployed. Therefore parliamentarians have a vital role to play.”

The extent of the challenges emerged during the discussions. Raoul Danniel A Manuel, MP Philippines, said teenage pregnancy was higher in rural areas than urban, and there was also an education differential.

“The rate is 32 percent among teenagers without education, 14% among teenagers with primary education, and 5% among teenagers with a secondary education,” Manuel said, noting that the Philippines was the only country in Southeast Asia where the teenage pregnancy rate is increasing in girls aged 10 to 14.

“It is important to raise awareness among young people so that they know how to take care of themselves before they marry. We also need to continue to strengthen services, especially user-friendly services, by focusing on vulnerable groups and young women who do not go to school because this group is at a very high risk of pregnancy, and pregnancy can be risky.”

Lisa Chesters, MP (Australia), reminded conference delegates that “comprehensive sexual education has a positive impact on young people. It has been credited with delaying sexual debut can reduce unwanted pregnancies and STDs.”

Benefits included preventing intimate partner violence, developing healthy relationships, and preventing sexual abuse.

Australia learned after an online petition went viral in 2021 the extent to which students had been subjected to sexual harassment at schools. Following this, ministers for education throughout the country agreed on sexual education at school.

Chesters said it was crucial to include comprehensive, well-planned engagement of young people at the center of any advertising and social media campaigns.

The discussion also centered around employment. Felix Weidenkaff, the Youth Employment Expert for the ILO’s regional office for Asia and the Pacific, told the conference that while digitalization was a key strategy to increase youth employment, it wasn’t a one-off. Aspects lawmakers should consider would include TVET and skill development (including understanding the needs of those with disability), infrastructure, connectivity, and equipment to create an inclusive system.

Delegates at the Youth Empowerment: Education, Employment and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights forum held in Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia. Credit: APDA

Sophea Khun, Country Program Coordinator of UN Women, said changing gender norms required comprehensive and sustained strategies that engage multiple stakeholders at all levels: households, communities, institutions, and governments.

Girls and young women needed to be given the opportunity for training in STEM (science, technology, and mathematics) to close the digital divide.

“In addition, harmful social norms that contribute to controlling women and girls’ access to communications and technology also need to be tackled,” Khun said.

Hun Many, MP (Cambodia) and Chair of the Commission, reiterated in his closing remarks that to create a more elaborate and innovative policy, “youth need to be able to be part of the decision-making process and the discussions.”

Ahead of the conference, IPS interviewed Cambodian MP Lork Kheng, chair of the commission on public health, social works, vocational training, and women’s affairs. Here are excerpts from the interview.

Lork Kheng, Cambodian MP and chair of the commission on public health, social works, vocational training, and women’s affairs.

IPS:  A tremendous amount of work is to be done to improve SRHR for all and youth-friendly services. How can young MPs play an enhanced role in developing policy, ensuring services are adequately financed and delivered to the communities where required?

LK: With regards to the role of Parliament, we can oversee the implementation of policies related to education, the provision of safe counseling on sexual and reproductive health, family planning, abortion, HIV/AIDS prevention and care, and local monitoring of child marriages, which are challenges for our Asia-Pacific region. In addition, the National Assembly always provides opportunities for development partners to contribute ideas and proposals for consideration through close cooperation in organizing educational forums and disseminating discussions and exchanges at national and sub-national levels (in their constituencies). We can establish effective monitoring and evaluation mechanisms and coverage of the actual implementation of practitioners and service providers and the effectiveness of policies to ensure that they are providing the anticipated outcomes. Working with think tanks and civil society organizations to conduct research, assessment, and evaluation that informs policymaking and improves service delivery from all stakeholders’ perspectives.

Another important role is to communicate directly with the people and sub-national authorities in the constituencies where they are based. Young MPs and MPs often use the forum to meet and visit local administrations, etc., to mainstream the information and raise awareness of the importance of youth and family life planning, as well as to share good local and global political experiences and best practices that can be implemented within the existing framework of national and sub-national policies to stakeholders, especially local authorities who work directly with the youth.

In particular, in overseeing the financing, every year, MPs actively participate in the discussion of the draft budget law, in which the whole House closely monitors the progress and changes in the budget allocation according to each program. Furthermore, MPs also provide feedback to the executive branch during the initial consultation phase until the full house passes the draft budget. In this regard, the review of budget allocations for youth health care, such as increased attention to the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, tobacco control, food safety and diet in general, and sexual issues in particular, has been addressed frequently and has been noted and considered by the relevant ministries as well as the Government.

The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications has prioritized students who pass the upper secondary national examination with good grades to study digital skills with the support of a student loan that must be repaid when they get a job. This is to strengthen human resources with digital capabilities.

IPS: While Asia and the Pacific are home to more than 60% of the world’s youth aged between 15 and 24, the COVID-19 pandemic acted to disadvantage youth in poorer and rural communities, especially where schooling was interrupted, and children did not have access to the technologies for remote learning. How can youth MPs ensure that those children (who may even now be young adults) are given the opportunities to complete their education? Secondly, how should policy, infrastructure, and finance be directed at children still disadvantaged by a lack of technology?

LK: We all truly recognize that the COVID-19 pandemic is an extraordinary challenge that has plagued all socio-economic sectors, requiring the Government and authorities to respond with unusual means in these difficult circumstances. In developing countries like Cambodia, when schools were closed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in its early stages, we did not have the right digital infrastructure for teaching and learning. Students in rural areas and those considered to be disadvantaged groups were the ones who faced barriers to accessing education at that stage. But if we look at the immediate solution of the Head of the Royal Government of Cambodia, we can measure the outcome of solving the challenges with this decision. The Government quickly rolled out vaccinations, especially prioritizing vaccinations for front-line medical workers and educators. That ensured that these two environments gained immunity as soon as possible so that students could return to class quickly with a high sense of security.

IPS: Youth are considered a vital resource for the country’s economic development, but they face high unemployment. What are young MPs working on to ensure that youth can get decent jobs and support young entrepreneurs? What are the policy directions needed to foster youth employment?

LK: Specifically in Cambodia, the unemployment rate for youth may be slightly lower than 14 percent. Nevertheless, youth are also facing other major challenges, such as skill mismatches with the job markets and vulnerabilities of international labor migration, which are the major concerns of the Parliament and the Government. As Cambodia is riding high on development in all areas, the labor market has expanded, especially in areas that benefit youth. In response to such demands, the Government has paid close attention to education and vocational training by prioritizing promoting science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to encourage young people to acquire high-demand skills.

In this new academic year, the Government has encouraged youth to pursue vocational skills at the primary and secondary levels by giving monthly allowance to approximately 1.5 million students, in addition to their free tuition.

To support the promotion of young entrepreneurship, we have also established a number of mechanisms – both under state supervision and public-private partnerships – that have created entrepreneurship and incubation centers. In particular, during the COVID-19 pandemic, these mechanisms also played an important role in providing much-needed assistance to those businesses through loans and free training to the entrepreneurs so that they could utilize the technology for their businesses against the backdrop of a changing lifestyle in the new normal.

Note: Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD), Asian Population and Development Association (APDA), and the Japan Trust Fund supported the hybrid conference.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
  

Youth involvement in Nigeria’s election is at an all-time high. Here the top three candidates, Peter Obi, Atiku Abubakar and Bola Tinubu take to the campaign trail in a country where there are 93 million registered voters. Credit: Photos Twitter/Graphic: Cecilia Russell

By Cecilia Russell
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 24 2023 (IPS)

Youth have already transformed the narrative of the 2023 elections, and it would be crucial for Nigeria’s newly elected president to consider their issues as he takes on the enormous task of rebuilding the country, says CIVICUS’ Advocacy and Campaigns Lead David Kode.

Speaking on the eve of the Presidential election, Kode told IPS there had been an 11 percent increase in registration since the 2019 elections, and youth have shown more interest in these elections than any other since 1999.

“Youth are really eager to see change.”

Youth activism which established itself as a political force during the 2020 #EndSars protests against police brutality and impunity, has continued on the trajectory of demanding change in the troubled country. The demand for change has gone far beyond just a change in government and leadership, but affected institutions like the church too, says Kode.

It would be necessary for the Nigerian president to tackle youth unemployment and ensure that those looking for jobs can access them. Going hand in hand with this, the civil society organization CIVICUS would like to see accountable and democratic leadership emerging during the election season, one that takes into consideration the concerns of the people.

David Kode, Advocacy and Campaigns Lead for CIVICUS.

Kode refers to the recent saga with the recall of the old naira currency, where people protested after the Central Bank of Nigeria imposed a deadline for swapping old notes. The bank was forced to extend the deadline, but it’s clear that decision-making was an example of a government and administration out of touch with its people.

“In general, as civil society organizations, we can facilitate between decision makers and the people – and that wasn’t done, and the views of the majority of Nigerians were not taken into account,” Kode said.

“And that’s a big problem for a society like Nigeria because once the decision makers are in positions of authority, it’s like they’re far removed from the lived experiences of ordinary Nigerians. They don’t access the schools that ordinary Nigerian access; they send their kids to schools in Western nations. They don’t access the hospitals when they are sick, they go out of the country, so they don’t experience these challenges on a day-to-day basis and do not really take time to consult the people about big decisions.”

He says it would have been logical to consult extensively before changing a currency.

No matter if it is the candidate that seems to have caught the imagination of the youth – Peter Obi – or another of the front runners, Bola Tinubu or Atiku Abubakar, that wins the election, it’s clear that the country needs a reset. No matter who wins, he hopes Nigeria responds in a way that strengthens the democratic process and doesn’t end in violence.

If there are protests, he hopes that they are not violently repressed – and that a free flow of information remains sacrosanct.

“If you have a leader who really has a vision for the country and prioritizes inclusivity, that might be the beginning of the change that is needed.

“Nigeria is a very, very complex, society with a huge population. And so much needs to be done, and it will take years to fix the system.”

Kode believes many challenges today are tied to the current president, Muhammadu Buhari, especially those concerning the economy and security exacerbated by his “ambivalence to the plight of citizens.”

The advantage that the new president will have, for the first time since 1999, is that the leader is not tied in some way to the country’s military dictatorship. Within the country’s constitution, there are structures available for wide consultation – from the federal to national level, where people have direct access to representatives at the national level. However, ordinary people’s concerns were not considered.

“So, we had leaders that are far removed from the lived realities of the ordinary people. And that’s why somebody like Peter (Obi) resonates very much with the youth and many Nigerians, particularly because he’s seen as somebody who is not really part of the establishment. Many people think he might be that person who could start instituting change.”

Youth represents more than 39 percent of the registered 93,4 million voters in Nigeria. Credit: INEC, Nigeria

Kode believes youth activism is exciting for Nigeria and the continent; after all, youth drove many liberation movements. Conversations around the continent prioritize youth, including the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

The youngest presidential candidate is 38 years old, and it is almost as if the youth are saying: In the past, they “stayed away because they are ambivalent, but it’s not led to change.” Youth apathy is an issue because “in Africa, there are more elections (than before), but the same leaders are being recycled.”

With youth involvement, Kode believes Nigeria can perhaps lead the continent in encouraging “active participation.”

“Irrespective of the outcome, I think the call from civil society to the new leadership will be to respect the constitution and democratic institutions. If people want to protest about the outcome, allow them to – it’s their constitutional right,” Kode says. “And I think it’s the responsibility of the state to ensure security and also allow diverse voices to be able to express themselves.”

He points out that elections are exciting because nobody knows who the winner will be. The other good thing is that this is the first election since the return to democracy in 1999 where the incumbent isn’t contesting.

“That provides in itself an opportunity for change, right, because you haven’t got people who may have been tied to some of the vices of the past … but it is the democratic process that should be built upon, and the rights of citizens need to be respected. Because there will be another election in the next few years, and if you kill certain institutions now, you could set Nigeria a few steps back.”

Nobody can predict an election, and while not everybody will be happy, it would be important for the post-election period to be carefully managed.

“Don’t disrupt the internet. Allow the information to flow as necessary. Be conscious of security issues. There are still some uncertainties; people in rural areas may not be well connected. Security or insecurity might prevent many people from voting. We know there are about 93 million registered voters, but some may not be able to vote because of security issues or even because of technical challenges. So irrespective of the outcome, I think the call from civil society will be to respect the rule of law.”

Finally, Kode says they are “encouraged that the youth are actively involved in this process, from what we see from the statistics, many are willing to vote … Let’s hope this is the beginning of a new dawn for Nigeria. A lot of countries on the continent would benefit from a democratic Nigeria.

“When Nigeria is safe, sound secure. Many other African countries will be safe, sound, and secure as well.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau