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“Se pine” (Let’s enquire)
Tiv youths have a lingering democratic
challenge. And that challenge is to find, on a sustainable basis, an
effective engagement framework with the political processes in their
constituencies. Sustainable in the sense that, they must locate
better and guaranteed channels of expression and resist the constant
gratuitous manner with which their skills and talents are exploited
without commensurate returns for their groups or their
constituencies.
The rising tempo of events, ahead of
next year’s general election has seen the rise of several aspiring
politicians seeking political offices. Ordinarily, this is a good
omen for Tiv youths, as it could be argued that there is ample space
for Tiv youths to find expression. The norm, however, is that most
Tiv and African youths are usually used for short-term political
objectives, after which their concerns and problems are ignored or
barely serviced until the next general elections. This has led to
disillusionment, dissatisfaction and bitterness with the entire
democratic process. Furthermore, the impact of this on the social
problems of the society is accentuated. This exploitation is made
worse when a vulnerable and impoverished Youth is then mobilized
with promises of financial gain to rally support for politicians, to
the point of using violence.
TIP’s objectives with this project is to
facilitate the process of
1.
Clarifying the issues and challenges
that confront Tiv youths with political office aspirants
2.
Identify, in order of priority, the main
challenges confronting Tiv youths
3.
Obtain from political office aspirants,
a clear perspective of their thoughts on Tiv youths
4.
Introduce Tiv youths to new ways of
communication and exchanges in the political process using
Information and Communication Technology
Please note, however, that TIP is
not a political organization and neither is it affiliated to any
political organization. TIP’s concern, at this point, is
only to educate on, promote and expose the use of ICTs for
development in Africa, increase awareness on the Tiv Internet
Project itself, break new grounds on intra and inter communication
between leaders and their followers especially among the youths.
Project Activities
Several activities have been outlined
under the project. They include online solicitation of eligible
pollsters, preparation of sample questionnaires, mobile-phone
opinion polls, integrating poll outcome to thematic questions for
public office aspirants and the publication online of the responses
from identified aspirants.
The Responses of all public office
participants to the thematic questions would be uploaded on this
website.
Criteria for interested pollsters
1.
Target Participants: Tiv youths
2.
Age: 20 - 35
3.
Sex: 50/50
4.
Academic qualification: Secondary
school leavers and graduates of tertiary institutions
Project Outcome
Expected outcome from the project would
be classified in two categories; academically useful outcome and
socially useful outcome. They include and are not limited to the
production of two reports, one to be drawn from an analysis of the
poll itself and the other from the responses of the public office
aspirants.
Increased understanding of the critical
issues confronted by Nigerian and Benue youth public office
aspirants; best practices in the use of ICT resources; creation of a
linkage between Benue youths and their political leaders, improved
citizenship and participation in democratic administration of Benue
and hopefully, a commitment by public office aspirants to follow
through with their stated plans and programmes for Benue youths.
For more information, please contact
Vitalis Ortese on
vitalis@tivnation.com and
vitalis@africaleadership.org
Sponsorship of this project was provided
by Kester Terna Ikyenge.
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