Yiaga Africa and the Not-Too-Young-To-Run Movement announced on Wednesday that they would train young people to strategize for running and winning elections in Nigeria.
Samson Itodo, Executive Director of Yiaga Africa and Convener of Not-Too-Young-To-Run, stated in an Abuja statement that a conference — the third edition of the Convergence — was part of the means to achieve the goal.
According to Itodo, the Convergence 3.0 is the largest gathering of young people running for elective office in South-West Nigeria in the 2023 elections.
Its goal is to empower and prepare them to run successfully in the upcoming general elections.
“The Convergence 3.0 is a space for emerging political leaders committed to transformational public leadership to reflect, engage, and build generational solidarity as they prepare to run for elective office.”
“The conference aims to provide young people with the knowledge, skills, and networks they need to run effective political campaigns and win elections.”
“Young people running for elective office will overcome the challenges of securing party nomination, money politics, and managing electoral operations with the inspiration, knowledge, and solidarity provided by the Convergence series.”
According to Itodo, Convergence 3.0 will prepare young people through keynote speeches, master classes, plenary sessions, political fairs, and clinics.
He went on to say that it would include experts from academia, civil society, professional organizations, relevant tiers of government, political parties, and the diplomatic corps.
He also stated that there would be conversation-style sessions, master classes, and clinics on a variety of topics.
Ideologically driven leadership; campaign structuring and money politics; candidate nomination; election law and adjudication; electoral operations and dirty politics are examples of these.
According to the Executive Director, Convergence 3.0 will take place in Lagos from December 8 to 10, 2021, with online participation.
He stated that the qualification criteria for applying for the Convergence 3.0: applicants should be between the ages of 25 and 40, from any of the South West states, and running for office in the South West.
Itodo stated that applicants must be registered voters, members of a political party, and submit two letters of recommendation, one of which must be from an official of their political party.
He stated that the first and second editions of the Convergence were held in Abuja and drew over 400 young political aspirants from across Nigeria.