The program started at exactly 6:20am with stay-alive exercise all the participants went out on jugging and we came in and the Facilitator lead the loosing up and everyone set out for their rooms for shower. It was followed by Leadership Learning Group session 7:15am and breakfast at about 8:00am.
The outgoing DESPLAY President Hon. Popoola Isiaka Olalekan was asked to address us and he apologized for his inability of not going to be at the election but if possible he will be at the handover. In his speech, he stated that The Youngstars Foundation always carries people along and he also used this medium to congratulate the prospective President in advance. This was immediately followed by the media and the news was presented by Blessing James stating how tension kept increasing as the Election Day for DESPLAY President approaches, and also asked if 200 reward is a reality or not and many more news.
A recap on the previous day was done
SESSION ONE: WHERE GOVERNANCE WORKS BY RITCHIE FELIX
He started by encouraging this year DESPLAY Participants are lucky to be enjoying all these now on the program. He asked us if we all voted in the last election and why? We answered that it is because it is our right and because we want to remove the present government and place the one of our choice.
Does democracy guarantee good governance? After much argument, it was later agreed that democracy does not guarantee good governance. Consensus is part and parcel of democracy. Your vote is your decision. The decision of today will define your tomorrow.
In Nigeria, we have four (4) arms of government and it includes: The People, Executive, Legislature and Judiciary.
EXCUSES FOR BAD GOVERNANCE
- Colonization
- Cold war
- Lack of natural resources
- Inadequate foreign Aid
- Over population
- Tribalism
- Corruption
- Poverty
Platform for good governance
- Consensus
- Participation
- Rule of law
- Transparency
- Responsiveness
- Equity and inclusiveness
- Effectiveness and Efficiency
- Accountability
World Bank releases new governance indicators
- Voice and Accountability
- Political Instability and Violence
- Government Effectiveness
- Regulatory Burden
- Rule of Law
- Control of Corruption
This session ended by 10:38am and we left for a break and came back by 11:15am and quickly daved into the recap of the last session
SESSION TWO: IS PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM MORE REPRESENTATIONAL THAN A PRESIDENTIAL SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT? BY SOLA FAGOROUS
Parliamentary government has the absence of clear separation of power between the two key branches of government. In this, the Executive branch is fused with and dependent upon the Legislative branch. The Prime minister is elected from the house of common and as well has dual functions. In the Executive, the key members are Prime Minister and Cabinet. Here no winner takes all and minority leader must rule through the cooperation with opponents.
PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONS
- To provide for the formation of a government
- To legislate
- To provide the funds needed for government
- To provide forum for popular representation
- To scrutinize the actions of government
ADVANTAGES OF PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT
- There is better relationship between Prime Minister and Ministers
- The extremist are co-opted into the political process etc.
DISADVANTAGES
- Less Direct Accountability
- It is unstable
- It is unstable
- It is not good in crisis
Presidential System
It has a clear separation of power and there is also checks and balances. No Prime Minister here rather what you have is President and he appoints his parliament and can also do away with them at his own time. The President cannot be removed just like that without any offence and it has to be with the two-third majority of the house.
ADVANTAGES OF PRESIDENTIAL SYSTEM
- Accountability
- Stability
- Fixed Term
- Separation of power
DISADVANTAGES OF PRESIDENTIAL SYSTEM
- Winner takes all etc.
In the Hybrid system, you have the President who chooses his Prime Minister and Cabinate. Here, the Legislature cannot remove the Executive because he was elected, so an election will still take place before the removal but the President can remove the Prime Minister.
In Hybrid system, the bodies involves in the Legislative process are the Upper and Lower house. It is mostly Committee that is used here appointed from the Legislatures and Legislation is initiated through the Committee.
LEADERSHIP LEARNING GROUP (LLG)
Mr. Kingsley came up to handle this and he asked us to share the things we have learnt from or what it has done to our lives and the responses where as follows:
- It helps us to grow inclusively
- It helps us in building friendship
- It serves as a medium to check-mate our Facilitators in watching the kind of thing they say to us.
At the end, he gave us an assignment to share in three (3) to five (5) minutes our stories each.
SESSION 3: DEEPENING DEMOCRACY THROUGH BLUE OCEAN YOUTH PARTICIPATION BY MAXWELL OGAGA.
We were grouped into two and were taken outside for the blue ocean game and each person hold the others hand with the aim of touching a particular point and one group won by thinking outside the box, they deviced so many strategies to get to their destinations. From this game, we learnt: creativity, innovation and not competition etc. it is based on value innovation. Still on this, the red ocean id crowded, fierce, bloody and has a very stiff competition. All the rules are known and boundary respected.
FOUR KEY THINGS THAT COMES TO PLAY IN VALUE INNOVATION
- Reduce
- Eliminate
- Create
- Raise
Many people rather die than think, so always think at all time and it has to be outside the box. Visionary leaders are the builders of a new dawn working with imagination, insight and boldness.
SESSION 4: MASS PROTEST AN IMPORTANT PART OF DEMOCRACY BY RITCHIE FELIX
Before engaging in any form of protest, ask questions on the ‘Value’ of the leader of the protest and your own value as a follower because it will determine the end.
SOME CAUSES OF MASS PROTEST
- Demographic structural factors
- Authoritarian States
- Human Right Violation
- Inflation kleptocracy
- Sectarianism
- Mass unemployment
GOALS FOR MASS PROTEST
- Democracy
- Human Rights
- Free and Fair Election
- Regime Change
- Practical Good Governance
CHARACTERISTICS OF MASS PROTEST
- Civil disobedience
- Civil Resistance
- Defection etc
MORE INFORMED ALTERNATIVE TO MASS PROTEST
- Write a letter to your government or office concern
- Write an article or essay for publication in the newspaper
- Call during a phone-in program and talk about your concern
- Print flyer and share around your community
- Use scorecard
- Call for a round-table dialogue
- Call for a Town Hall meetings
- Discover the government near you and engage it
- Start up a radio show. E.g. Tea A
- Use comedy show
- Use petition
- Organize public debates over the issue engage party’s manifesto
- Engage political candidate’s agenda
The session ended at exactly 5:40pm with a national Anthem moderated by Ogbodo Chinedu .M. We were asked to come back by 7:00pm for the election guidelines and a closing prayer said by Ms. Obi Ogechi Marcillina.
By 7:00pm, we all assembled back and took our dinner and immediately after it, the DESPLAY NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION (DESNEC) led by Mr. Ritchie Felix came in to give us the guidelines for the DESPLAY SESSION 7 election, so attached here is a copy of the DESNEC ELECTORAL LAW.
Ms. Obi Ogechi Marcillina
Leader Reporting Group
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