To further enhance youth participation in politics, YIAGA Africa has concluded arrangements to partner with the Nigerian Bar Association and Young Lawyers Forum to provide free legal services to young men, women, and Person with Disabilities who are contesting for elective posts in the 2023 general elections. YIAGA announced this in a law clinic organised
To further enhance youth participation in politics, YIAGA Africa has concluded arrangements to partner with the Nigerian Bar Association and Young Lawyers Forum to provide free legal services to young men, women, and Person with Disabilities who are contesting for elective posts in the 2023 general elections.
YIAGA announced this in a law clinic organised with the support of the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) for the young lawyers whose interests align with specializing in election law to further deepen their understanding of how women and youth candidates are operating in the new electoral framework and to provide pro bono services to them.
Speaking at the election law clinic which is under YIAGA’s TurnUp Democracy project, during the week, Cynthia Mbamalu, Yiaga Programme officer noted that having a full understanding of the law is important in the coming election. She noted that the recently enacted Electoral Act 2022 has brought an evolution to Nigeria’s electioneering process and it is expedient that all candidates have full knowledge of what the act entails and what its stance is on major things that matter in the coming elections.
She noted that the new electoral act has opened up room for bigger conversations around the Nigeria election process and some of the theories therein will be implemented. She noted that the law clinic was tailored towards the act and how it will be beneficial to the young candidates.
She further explained that since the majority of youth candidates do not understand the election laws, it is only right that there are free legal advisory services for them. According to her, not understanding the basic rule of elections can determine their victory.
She indicated that knowing the law and understanding the basics around it can also help the candidates to avoid post-election legal battles that are likely to come after the elections. “With every new legal framework, it also opens up a conversation of the theories around implementation because as there are now more issues to be contested and more issues to be tested.
“In engaging young people in the process, a lot of what we saw as a major challenge was that a lot of them did not even understand the basic laws guiding the elections and how to challenge an injustice perpetrated to them in the process. If you are campaigning but you don’t know the rules of the game, you’re already losing because you need to know the rules of the game to understand how to contest and how to win your election”, she said.
Leave a Comment
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked with *