The Young Communicators Initiative (YCI) has unveiled a 10-year leadership development programme aimed at equipping young female students with leadership, communication and artificial intelligence skills to bridge Nigeria’s widening gender gap in political leadership by 2035.
Founder and Executive Director of YCI, Chinenye Priscilla Anaemena, disclosed this on Thursday during a courtesy visit by her team to LEADERSHIP Newspapers in Abuja.
Anaemena said the initiative, tagged: “Vision 2035,” was designed to prepare young female leaders to take advantage of opportunities in an increasingly digital economy and increase women’s participation in leadership and governance.
“This is Vision 2035, and this is our programme. Vision 2035. One may wonder, what is it about? Why 2035? The world is evolving. It is becoming part of things already, the digital economy.
“And when you look at the statistics, especially with the World Economic Forum, ranking at the lowest in women political leadership, living at 143 out of 145 party line margins. And if nothing is done about that, we will continue to experience this cyclical failure.”
She said the situation was reflected in the declining number of women in Nigeria’s National Assembly, noting that women occupied only 17 seats in the 10th Assembly.
“If you look at the 8th Assembly, we realised the political system. Out of 469 legislators, both the Green Chambers and the Red Chambers, meaning the House of Representatives in the Senate, we have just 27 women.
“And then moving down from 8th Assembly, which was in 2015, to 9th Assembly and now to 10th Assembly, we have just 17 women. That is alarming.”
Anaemena said the challenge was not a lack of competent women but the absence of adequate preparation, confidence and understanding of the strategies required for effective leadership in the digital age.
“Why is it no? It is not because we have women who have the skills, who have the capability. And it is also yes because these women are scared to take this bold step. And when they do, they do not understand the technicalities and strategies to effective leadership in a digital age.”
According to her, YCI seeks to address the challenge by exposing young female student leaders to practical leadership, effective communication and artificial intelligence.
She said the initiative held the maiden edition of its Young Initiatives Conference last year, attracting more than 200 students from 21 schools, where participants were trained in practical AI skills, effective communication and leadership.
Anaemena said the programme also encouraged students to develop community-based projects aimed at solving problems within their schools and immediate environments.
She cited the “Paints to Protect” project developed by students of Government Secondary School, Nyanya, to address road safety concerns around their school.
According to her, the students observed that the road and pedestrian areas were not properly outlined, resulting in frequent accidents, and developed a project in collaboration with road safety authorities.
She also highlighted the performance of public schools in the programme, noting that Government Secondary School, Nyanya, emerged first in the speech contest ahead of several top private schools.
“We’re trying to let them know that having a parental advantage is just an advantage, but never a limitation. You, with hard work, dedication, and commitment, can as well soar and thrive as well as others with parental advantage.”
Anaemena said the programme was not limited to a two-day training but included monitoring and evaluation to determine its long-term impact on participants.
She disclosed that YCI was working with the FCT Secondary Education Board to monitor the students and support their community development projects.
“We’re currently working with them to execute their community-based development project. Like the Government Secondary School, APO. Before they went on the summer break, we had their projects with them and their project is having a dedicated waste bin for part disposal.”
