By Maryam Bello
Creating more political space by the National Assembly for youths and women is a great way to boost Nigerian democracy, stakeholders have said.
The stakeholders made the call recently in Katsina when they converged at the Katsina Town Hall meeting on Open Government Partnership (OGP) organized by the Organization for Community Civic Engagement (OCCEN) in collaboration with Global Initiative for Advocacy & Development (GIAD-Nigeria) with funding support from National Endowment for Democracy (NED).
They called for the passage of the Gender Equal Opportunities Bill (GEO) and the independent candidate bill currently before the National Assembly in the ongoing constitutional amendments to enhance democratic development and create more space for participation and fair play.
The Lead Coordinator, Democracy Drivers Network Katsina State, Ismail Bello, said: “USA citizens have not only rights but also the responsibility to participate in the political system as their democracy is anchored on elected representatives, civil liberties, independent judiciary, organized opposition party and respect and strict adherence to the rule of law.”
The meeting was aimed at building a strategic citizens advocacy platform to engage the government to sign the OGP commitment in the state and was attended by various stakeholders including CSO’s, media, and representatives of the state government.
