Dean Initiative, a Civil Society Organization (CSO) has revealed that in its efforts to help youth register and collect Permanent Voters Card (PVC) through its “PVC Bus Drive” exposed the reality of the economic challenges that young people face in Nigeria.
Giving its success story in a statement made available in Abuja, the Executive Director of DEAN Initiative, Semiye Micheal, said that the PVC Bus Drive , was initiated when the cost of moving from one place to another became difficult for most young people, especially those who reside in grassroots communities.
According to the statement, The Bus Drive, an activity of the #iPledge2Vote helped all interested young people, especially those in grassroots communities, register for, and collect their PVC’s, also provided room for social inclusion, as an opportunity to participate was also given to persons with disabilities.
The statement disclosed further that the PVC Bus Drive gave room for gender mainstreaming as it provided an opportunity for the female gender to participate in a less strenuous way, as a larger percentage of the youth being conveyed by the bus are females.
It said the initiative complemented other initiatives to increase youth participation in PVC registration.
“The PVC Bus Drive helped move several young people, living in very hard-to-reach communities to different registration centers to enable them to register and participate in not just the coming election but also in every other subsequent election, thereby increasing the number of young people that would be participating in the electoral process.
“It also helped boost economic support as we ensured that we used the local transport businesses that regularly do not have such a large business turnout,” the statement noted.
It further noted the challenges of youth participation during the Continuous Voter Regiszration (CVR), maintaining that this shows a story of not just hardship but disenfranchising and cruel political marginalization.
“Providing the youth a means of transportation exceeds the fact that we are giving them the platform to participate in the CVR, it is also a form of social lifting which of course would also boost their self-esteem as individuals in our collective pursuit of a better Nigeria.
“Increment in youth participation is a crucial part of our democratic asset (making them part of the 60 million youth who would pledge to vote), and leveraging the youth interest in governance starts with voting,” the statement noted.
