A cross section of youth in Akwa Ibom State have been trained by a Non-Governmental Organization on how to hold Government accountable through legislative engagement and related matters as champions in their respective Constituencies.
Arising from a two day workshop which ends in Uyo on Wednesday, with the theme Promoting Youth Participation in Accountable Governance, the Executive Director, Greater Tomorrow Initiative, Mr Ndifreke Patrick who gave insight on the program said that about 26 youths were selected for the capacity building workshop to serve as champions of legislative governance and accountability in their Constituencies in the state.
The idea behind the program he said was aimed at promoting youth participation in governance and engagement with legislatures by equipping them with requisite capacity, knowledge and skills to engage with their legislatures and demand accountability as their representatives.
According to him, from the training, it is believed that from the engagement, the champions will be able to access their representatives for robust engagement that will better address youth issues, attract development with the hope that legislatures in the state would be open to the champions in this engagement.
Taking the participants through the rudiments of legislation and engagement at the national and state level, a seasoned capacity builder, Dr Harry Udoh who spoke on Effective Citizens Participation in Legislative Governance highlighted the shortcomings in it to include administrative imbalance, power tussle, corruption and party politics, however advocated for absolute independence for the legislature from the executive if the needed change should be achieved.
He therefore called on the legislature to work closely with Civil Liberty Organizations, development Experts, Researchers, build consensus, strengthen public participation, oversight, deploy technology to further enhance their productivity, efficiency, transparency and accountability.
To achieve this engagement, the Executive Director, Youth for Change Initiative, Amb Peace Edem while speaking on How to Communicate with Public Officials tasked the champions to be bold, courageous, polite, patient and specific in their engagement through the use of advocacy, media, dialogue, lobby, public hearing, memos and establishment of good working contacts with their representatives.
The champions were also thought how to hold the legislature accountable and how to track projects allocated to their Constituencies by Mr Ekemini Simon, an investigative Journalist based in Akwa Ibom, who asserted that the federal government have been more accountable in terms of budget appraisal and implementation unlike some State Government and gave the trained champions insight and links to monitor Government budgetary allocation from FAAC, MDAs, Budget Office, as well as Loans, Offer, Grants and other fiscal policy of the government at all levels to achieve their target, amongst other things.