PRESS RELEASE FOR THE FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE COMMONWEALTH YOUTH COUNCIL

Introduction

Young people make up over half of the Commonwealth’s population, and the present and future success of the commonwealth rests with the continued commitments and contributions of young people in upholding and promoting the commonwealth and its values and principles, and advancing the youth development agenda for a relevant, vibrant, effective and prosperous Commonwealth. Consequently, article XIII of the Commonwealth Youth Charter called for establishment of an internationally recognised youth-led organization to mobilise, harmonise, recognise, legitimise, utilise, and prioritise the important role of young people in the Commonwealth. This lead to the recommendation by the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group to establish Commonwealth Youth Council (CYC), and adopted by the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth, Australia in 2011, which is established to play an integral role in advancing the youth development agenda and the co-ordination of activities and policies of the Commonwealth in the field of youth. The council shall work for and represent the voice of all young people within the commonwealth.

At the Commonwealth Youth Leaders’ Conference in Chandigarh, India (December 2010), the commonwealth youth programme supported the then Commonwealth Regional Youth Caucus representatives (RYCs) to establish a youth led committee to draft the legal framework for the new Commonwealth Youth Council. The first general assembly was agreed to be held during the 2013 Commonwealth Youth Forum as an official parallel youth event of CHOGM. 

CYC General Assembly, Hambantota, Sri Lanka.

As usual the Commonwealth Youth Forum was organised as a CHOGM parallel youth event from 10-14 November, 2013, but this year’s edition was special due to the introduction of the CYC activities: CYC general assembly and CYC first general elections. The first general assembly of the CYC ratified and signed the constitution of the Commonwealth Youth Council; this took place on 11^th November, 2013. The CYC nominations into the executive positions were made through an open and transparent process a month before the general assembly. Final list of nominees were published on 14^th November, 2013. Rigorous and intellectual campaigns were made online through different social media. Delegates at the Commonwealth Youth Forum (cyf) formed the list of voters for the first CYC general elections, one vote per country. However, upon arrival at the venue of the CYF, campaign debates and speeches were organised for every position. The debate for Chairperson Position was made more rigorous with the introduction of special panel, who threw questions to the contestants before general questions from the assembly. There were 51 contestants vying for 9 positions, with four contestants vying for post of the Chairperson as follows:

Chairperson position:

1.      Ahmed Adamu, from Nigeria.

2.      Kesaobaka Pharatlhatlhe, from Botswana.

3.      Francesca Danmole, from UK.

4.      Ngen Yves Riyuh, Cameroon.

The election took place on the 12^th November, 2013 through online preferential voting system. The election results were revealed on the same day as follows:

Chairperson	Ahmed Adamu (Nigeria)
Vice Chairperson - Policy, Advocacy and Projects	Sudharshana Lakshmi (India)
Vice Chairperson - Partnerships and Resources	Sadham Zarjahan (Sri Lanka)
Vice Chairperson - Inclusion and Engagement	Mohamed Husni (Sri Lanka)
Regional Representative - Africa and Europe	Kiziah Philbert (Kenya)
Regional Representative - Asia	Tharika Dileepani (Sri Lanka)
Regional Representative - Caribbean and the Americas	Royden Beharry (Grenada)
Regional Representative - Pacific	Harry James (Solomon Islands)
Representative - Special Interest Groups	Wathsala Samarakoon (Sri Lanka)

This means that Ahmed Adamu from Nigeria will chair the new body, which will be the recognized voice of more than 1.2 billion young people of the Commonwealth and provide a framework for youth-led development initiatives. The Commonwealth Youth Council is also the largest, biggest and most diverse youth organization in the world. Leaders will serve a two-year term until the next Council General Assembly in Malta in 2015.

Adamu is from Kastina State, Nigeria and a graduate of Bayero University Kano, and he is doing his PhD in Economics, in Newcastle University, UK. He is the Founder and Pioneer President of Youth Participation for Progressive Development Initiative, member, Katsina State Executive Council Committee on youth restiveness and Unemployment, December, 2011 and Secretary, Constitutional review Committee, Katsina Central Constituency, 2012. He was also the pioneer Chief Whip of the Nigerian Youth Parliament, and represented Nigeria in the last CYF in Australia. He published book, and many international academic articles.

On 15^th November, 2013, the installation ceremony of the first CYC executives took place in a very big and colorful closing ceremony of the CYF, which was attended by more than 2000 audience including special guests and the president of the Sri Lanka. In his inaugural address, Ahmed Adamu acknowledged the daunting tasks that lie ahead, and call for inclusive and immediate support to the council, he also thank the people and government of Sri Lanka for their warm hospitality, he also presented the final communiqué of the CYF to the representative of the commonwealth Secretariat. The whole 9 days were full of cultural and social events.

The newly elected executives of the CYC met with all the presidents/heads of commonwealth countries in an interactive session. Ahmed Adamu, the new CYC chair, addressed the heads of governments by highlighting major issues of concerns raised by the youth during the concluded CYF, he also emphasized on the need to partner and support the CYC. In reactions, Presidents/heads of governments from Malawi, South Africa, Malta, Malaysia, St Lucia, Nigeria, Samoa etc responded positively and promise to support the council immediately, other heads of states who did speak at the interactive session were also in full support of the CYC. This was demonstrated by immediate donation of $100, 000.00 by the Prime Minister of Pakistan as a takeoff grant to the council. The whole CHOGM events ended 17^th November, 2013.

The commonwealth youth council, being the mother umbrella of all youth organization within commonwealth will now be expected to harmonize and establish its representatives in all commonwealth countries. It is also expected to established contacts and close relationship with all heads/presidents of the commonwealth countries, commonwealth secretariat and other commonwealth institutions, as well as other youth development partners all over the world. It is expected that the council will come up with line of actions and programs for the next one year.

SIGNED:

CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON MEDIA, PUBLICITY AND PUBLIC RELATION 

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announces US$100,000/- for the newly established Commonwealth Youth Council

Pakistan Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif announced a special donation of US$100,000/- at the Commonwealth Summit in Colombo for the newly established Commonwealth Youth Council (CYC). The contribution, which demonstrates the importance Pakistan attaches to the youth agenda, is intended to fund the youth-led development projects of the CYC in its early years.

The Commonwealth Youth Council was formally launched during the 9th Commonwealth Youth Forum held on the margins of the Commonwealth Summit. The newly established autonomous youth-led body would serve as the representative voice of 1.2 billion young people in the Commonwealth and would provide a framework for youth-led development initiatives. The Government of Sri Lanka has offered to host the Secretariat of CYC.

Earlier speaking on the agenda item relating to “Climate Change Financing”, the Prime Minister stated that climate change was a defining reality of our times and called for a multi-pronged and revitalized global partnership for generating the needed financing to confront its effects. In this regard, he proposed formation of global policies to motivate private sector, enhanced availability of grants and soft loans to the public sector and early operationalization of the “Green Climate Fund”.

Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif also held a bilateral meeting with Australian Prime Minister Mr. Tony Abbott on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Summit. During the meeting, issues of common interests came under discussion.

Prime Minister is leading Pakistan delegation to the Commonwealth Summit. He is being assisted by Mr. Tariq Fatemi, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Ms. Anusha Rehman, Minister of State for IT and Telecommunication and Mr. Jalil Abbas Jilani, Foreign Secretary.

Ref >> Asian Tribune - http://www.asiantribune.com/node/67049

DESPLAY AFRICA: My Presidential Appreciation Speech

Dear Compatriots, I want to use this medium to appreciate everybody’s contributions towards making Semester 2 of Season 6 a huge success. Without doubts in my mind, I strongly believe that all the participants at the just concluded Semester will agree with me that the programmes designed for the Semester were very rich in contents and we all enjoyed it to the latter.

Fellow democrats, of memorable positive impact to us were issues on the election held on May 27, 2011 in which I was a presidential flag-bearer under the platform of Young African Democrats Party (YADP) and my respected colleague, Mr. Onwuakpa Davingson, who was my contender under the Blue Ocean Democratic Party (BODP). After two rounds of tied votes, the third round gave us a relief which resulted to my declaration as the 6th President of the DESPLAY Republic.

Based on the premises that we all agreed that the electioneering processes were free & fair and that the reputations of all members of DESNEC 2011, under the Chairmanship of Mr. ‘Sola Fagorusi, are of high standards, I want to appreciate all of them for conducting a credible election. Our election will go down a memory lane of DESPLAY history as the one that was keenly contested up to the third round!

My sincere gratitude to all the members of YADP and my campaign team, headed by Barr. Karen Opigo, for their strong believe in me as a viable presidential candidate. I also appreciate the sportsmanship hearts of all the members of BODP. Likewise, I will never forget to acknowledge the intercessional supports received from the ex-President Maxwell Ogaga (President of Season 4) and ex-President Babafemi Oyediran (President of Season 5) when the need be. I still count on their supports throughout my tenure. Sir Bola Abimbola is highly appreciated for passionately coordinating the activities of DESPLAY programme. All team members of Youngstars Development Initiative, under Pastor Kingsley N.T. as the Team Leader, are appreciated for uniting us through this platform and breeding emerging democratic leaders in Africa continent.

In discharging my duties as the President, everybody will be given equal opportunities of active participation in delivering the dividends of good governance through my experienced leadership. The tasks ahead are enormous and all members are enjoyed to make positive impacts whenever the need arise.

I thank you all and God bless.

Democracy Series: Participation, Learning and Active Youth (DESPLAY) is a project coordinated by Youngstars Development Initiative and sponsored by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), USA. The project features capacity building programmes for African youths in leadership, democracy and good governance. The sixth edition known as Season 6 has participants drawn from Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa. NB:

For further details, please visit: http://youngstars-foundation.org/programme/desplay-africa/

Signed:

His Excellency,

Hon. Isiaka Olamilekan Popoola (GCFR),

President, DESPLAY Republic

May 29, 2011

Dear Compatriots, I want to use this medium to appreciate everybody’s contributions towards making Semester 2 of Season 6 a huge success. Without doubts in my mind, I strongly believe that all the participants at the just concluded Semester will agree with me that the programmes designed for the Semester were very rich in contents and we all enjoyed it to the latter.

Fellow democrats, of memorable positive impact to us were issues on the election held on May 27, 2011 in which I was a presidential flag-bearer under the platform of Young African Democrats Party (YADP) and my respected colleague, Mr. Onwuakpa Davingson, who was my contender under the Blue Ocean Democratic Party (BODP). After two rounds of tied votes, the third round gave us a relief which resulted to my declaration as the 6th President of the DESPLAY Republic.

Based on the premises that we all agreed that the electioneering processes were free & fair and that the reputations of all members of DESNEC 2011, under the Chairmanship of Mr. ‘Sola Fagorusi, are of high standards, I want to appreciate all of them for conducting a credible election. Our election will go down a memory lane of DESPLAY history as the one that was keenly contested up to the third round!

My sincere gratitude to all the members of YADP and my campaign team, headed by Barr. Karen Opigo, for their strong believe in me as a viable presidential candidate. I also appreciate the sportsmanship hearts of all the members of BODP. Likewise, I will never forget to acknowledge the intercessional supports received from the ex-President Maxwell Ogaga (President of Season 4) and ex-President Babafemi Oyediran (President of Season 5) when the need be. I still count on their supports throughout my tenure. Sir Bola Abimbola is highly appreciated for passionately coordinating the activities of DESPLAY programme. All team members of Youngstars Development Initiative, under Pastor Kingsley N.T. as the Team Leader, are appreciated for uniting us through this platform and breeding emerging democratic leaders in Africa continent.

In discharging my duties as the President, everybody will be given equal opportunities of active participation in delivering the dividends of good governance through my experienced leadership. The tasks ahead are enormous and all members are enjoyed to make positive impacts whenever the need arise.

I thank you all and God bless.

Democracy Series: Participation, Learning and Active Youth (DESPLAY) is a project coordinated by Youngstars Development Initiative and sponsored by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), USA. The project features capacity building programmes for African youths in leadership, democracy and good governance. The sixth edition known as Season 6 has participants drawn from Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa. NB:

For further details, please visit: http://youngstars-foundation.org/programme/desplay-africa/

Signed:

His Excellency,

Hon. Isiaka Olamilekan Popoola (GCFR),

President, DESPLAY Republic

May 29, 2011

ADDRESS BY THE CHAIRMAN OF INEC ON POSTPONEMENT OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS IN 2011

DEAR COMPATRIOTS

Since this Commission started work in July 2010, I have repeatedly promised Nigerians that in carrying out our duties we shall always be sincere and truthful with Nigerians. I have always said that this INEC will be upfront with Nigerians, telling you exactly how things are – sharing both our successes and difficulties with you. This is one such occasion. Indeed, it is an emergency. 

As you know the National Assembly (House of Representatives and Senate) elections are supposed to be taking place as I speak. You would also have noticed that things have not proceeded smoothly as expected with the elections.

The reason for this is the unanticipated emergency we have experienced with late arrival of result sheets in many parts of the country. The result sheets are central to the elections and their integrity. Accordingly, in many places, our officials have not reported at the polling units, making it now difficult
to implement the Modified Open Ballot Procedure that we have adopted. Not only do we have to enter the results in the sheets, the number of accredited voters is also to be entered in the result  sheet. While we could have proceeded with the elections in a few States of the country, where all the
materials are available, such as Lagos, Kaduna, Kebbi, Delta, Zamfara and Enugu, among others, in order to maintain the integrity of the elections and retain effective overall control of the process, the
Commission has taken the difficult but necessary decision to postpone the National Assembly elections to Monday, April 4, 2011.

I appeal to all Nigerians for their understanding in this difficult situation. We as a Commission appreciate the profound sacrifice that you have all made not just in turning out today, but also throughout this election season. We are greatly encouraged by you and our appeal is that you remain steadfast in this last lap of this electoral process in the interest of all Nigerians and in the cause of democracy.

The Commission will immediately be contacting all political parties, as major stakeholders to explain the situation. I appeal for their support in explaining the situation to their members and supporters.

May I also appeal to all other stakeholders, particularly national and international observers and our development partners for continued understanding. I realize that they have committed enormous resources to this process, especially in deploying observers in the field. However, we think that what is worth doing is worth doing well.

Finally, while we deeply regret this situation and apologise to Nigerians for the hardship this may have created, I would like to reiterate that we are fully committed to conducting free, fair and credible elections for Nigerians. The decision the Commission has taken is weighty; but it is also a very important step in further ensuring the credibility of the elections.


Professor Attahiru M. Jega, OFR,
Honourable Chairman

4TH NATIONAL COUNCIL ON YOUTH DEVELOPMENT: OSUN 2010

The National Council on Youth Development (NCYD) is the apex decision making body to the Federal Government of Nigeria on the issues that have direct or indirect impacts on youth development and empowerment of Nigerian youth. The body was created in year 2007. Since its inception, it has held its yearly Meetings in Kastina (2007), Calabar (2008) and Abuja (2009). This year’s edition will be held at the heart of the Osun State Capital city, Osogbo.

This year’s Council Meeting which is expected to be held from July 12th – 16th, 2010 has the theme: “Nigerian Youth: Challenges of Unemployment and Restiveness: The Way Forward.” Its features include Technical Sessions, Review of the Implementation of the past Meetings, Submission of new memoranda and release of a Communiqué at the end of the Meeting.

The expected delegates are “who are who” in Nigeria’s youth development sector. The categories of these people include: The Honourable Minister of the Federal Ministry of Youth Development; the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Youth Development; the States’ Honourable Commissioners and Permanent Secretaries in-charge of youth development; UNFPA; National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) Executive Members; the leadership of the Nigerian Youth Parliament (NYP) and; all other invited participants.

As an adage says, “Youth cannot be side-lined when the issues on nation building are being discussed.” It is on this note that the three distinguished Honourable Members Representing Osun State at the NYP (Hon. Isiaka O. Popoola – Osun Central, Hon. Jimoh Abiola – Osun West and Hon. Tinuola Awosemo – Osun East) welcome all the delegates to the State of the Living Spring. Particularly, we humbly welcome His Excellency, Comrade O.J. Ajani, a son of the land and the President-Elect of NYCN, on his first working visit to Osun State. Likewise, Hon. Luke Onofiok, the Speaker of the NYP.


As over 70million Nigerian Youth are eagerly awaiting the Meeting’s “implementable” Communiqué, We wish the participants fruitful and interesting deliberations as they apply their various fields of learning, expertise and wisdom in championing a new cause for the great Nigerian youths.

Long live Nigerian Youth
Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria

SIGNED: Hon. Isiaka Olamilekan Popola,
Member, House Committee on International Relations & Conflict Resolution, NYP On behalf of the Osun State Representatives at the Nigerian Youth Parliament

4TH NATIONAL COUNCIL ON YOUTH DEVELOPMENT: OSUN 2010

The National Council on Youth Development (NCYD) is the apex decision making body to the Federal Government of Nigeria on the issues that have direct or indirect impacts on youth development and empowerment of Nigerian youth. The body was created in year 2007. Since its inception, it has held its yearly Meetings in Kastina (2007), Calabar (2008) and Abuja (2009). This year’s edition will be held at the heart of the Osun State Capital city, Osogbo.

This year’s Council Meeting which is expected to be held from July 12th – 16th, 2010 has the theme: “Nigerian Youth: Challenges of Unemployment and Restiveness: The Way Forward.” Its features include Technical Sessions, Review of the Implementation of the past Meetings, Submission of new memoranda and release of a Communiqué at the end of the Meeting.

The expected delegates are “who are who” in Nigeria’s youth development sector. The categories of these people include: The Honourable Minister of the Federal Ministry of Youth Development; the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Youth Development; the States’ Honourable Commissioners and Permanent Secretaries in-charge of youth development; UNFPA; National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) Executive Members; the leadership of the Nigerian Youth Parliament (NYP) and; all other invited participants.

As an adage says, “Youth cannot be side-lined when the issues on nation building are being discussed.” It is on this note that the three distinguished Honourable Members Representing Osun State at the NYP (Hon. Isiaka O. Popoola – Osun Central, Hon. Jimoh Abiola – Osun West and Hon. Tinuola Awosemo – Osun East) welcome all the delegates to the State of the Living Spring. Particularly, we humbly welcome His Excellency, Comrade O.J. Ajani, a son of the land and the President-Elect of NYCN, on his first working visit to Osun State. Likewise, Hon. Luke Onofiok, the Speaker of the NYP.


As over 70million Nigerian Youth are eagerly awaiting the Meeting’s “implementable” Communiqué, We wish the participants fruitful and interesting deliberations as they apply their various fields of learning, expertise and wisdom in championing a new cause for the great Nigerian youths.

Long live Nigerian Youth
Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria

SIGNED: Hon. Isiaka Olamilekan Popola,
Member, House Committee on International Relations & Conflict Resolution, NYP On behalf of the Osun State Representatives at the Nigerian Youth Parliament