Mr Jika Attoh, Executive Director, West Africa Democracy Radio, Dakar, Senegal, on Tuesday called on the Nigerian media to make it a policy to promote youth candidacy ahead of the 2019 general elections in Nigeria.
Attoh made the call at a training for journalists on “Mainstreaming Issues of Youth Candidacy and Youth Participation in the Electoral Process in the Nigerian Media.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the training was jointly organised by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Media Action and YIAGA AFRICA to rally media support for youth candidacy as the signing of the Not-Too-Young-To-Rule bill into law had ushered in a lot of youths candidates.
According to Attoh, who is a facilitator at the programme, said this is the campaign period where politicians reel out policies, adding that it is up to the media to relate such to the masses to enable them to make informed judgments.
He said that the democratic pre-requisite behoved reporters to know about the electoral process and create content around it because without informed content, there would be no democracy.
“Media contents influence thoughts, informs, educates, entertains and can change attitude; so, as Journalists, you need to set the agenda for youth participation in politics.
“As media, your responsibility is the surveillance of the electoral environment and groups to give voices to all range of interests.
“You also need to have strong journalism and Media organisations and know the laws on media freedom.
“The media need to have good content to enlighten people on the need to support young people in politics,” he said.
The facilitator also urged the media to do their job right to stop the irregularities in the society and also focus on rallying support for youths.
He said that the media needed to promote good governance by holding public institutions accountable and insist on transparency.
He also urged them to engage the public in sustained civil education to strengthen the electoral process.
Earlier, Ms Ruth Olurounbi, Media and Communications Manager, YIAGA AFRICA, said that the training was organised to equip journalists to understand the challenges faced in reporting and creating contents on youths issues in Nigeria.
Olurounbi said that it was to also identify better ways of enhancing youth participation in government.
Ms Meyiwa Ede, Project Manager, BBC Media Action said that the organisation was founded as BBC’s international development charity to give support to communication efforts that strengthened governance.
Ede said that the organisation identified programmes that could transform lives in societies and build advocacy around it.
She said that the training was aimed at promoting media coverage for youths in politics to promote their participation. (NAN)
