The GoNigeria Initiative, which encourages youth participation in the electoral process, has announced the names of Nigerian youths who won the top 3 prizes in the 2nd GoNigeria Poetry Challenge.
Gatekeepers News reports that the winners of the challenge are: Agev Barnabas from Benue State, who emerged as the Star prize winner of the competition and will receive a cash prize of N1,000,000 (One Million Naira); Divine Inyang Titus from Akwa Ibom State who emerged as the first runner-up and receives a cash prize of N600,000; and Ikpeoha David Chukwuemeka from Abia State who emerged as the second runner-up and receives a cash prize of N400,000.
The 2nd Poetry Challenge was organized to further boost the public enlightenment campaign of GoNigeria, an advocacy initiated by Anap Foundation which seeks to sensitize Nigerian youths to register to vote, obtain their PVCs and participate in the electoral processes during the 2023 General Elections.
The online challenge which ran from Monday, 11 April, 2022 to Thursday, 30 June, 2022, was aimed at engaging Nigerian youths with a strong inclination in poetry to showcase their talents and be part of the ongoing GoNigeria advocacy campaign.
The poster boy for the 2nd GoNigeria Poetry Challenge was renowned Poet and GoAdvocate – Dike Chukwumerije and the Panel of Judges included Maryam Bukar Hassan (Alhan Islam), who is an accomplished poet and a GoAmbassador.
The digital competition offered persons between ages 18 to 34, an opportunity to create a 60 seconds spoken word video while holding their Permanent Voters’ Cards [PVCs] or registration slip and encouraging other youths to go register and pick up their voters’ cards, whilst playing with the acronym PVC in the video, then posting their video using the hashtag #GoNigeriaPoetryChallenge.
According to the Atedo N A Peterside CON,
President & Founder, Anap Foundation and GoNigeria Convener, the objective was to encourage the youth demographic to register with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and collect their PVCs while the Commission’s Continuous Voter’s Registration [CVR] exercise remained opened in preparation for the 2023 General elections.
GoNigeria is an initiative of Anap Foundation, a non-profit organization which is committed to promoting good governance. Via its GoNigeria Initiative, Anap Foundation has been partnering with Advocates and enlightened celebrities (GoAmbassadors), corporate bodies eager to support the Initiative via co-branding (GoPartners) as well as many enthusiastic young volunteers who help to amplify the messaging to their age mates and the general public (GoVolunteers). The overall aim is to encourage Nigerian youths to register and vote en-masse in the 2023 General Elections.
The 18 initial Advocates of the GoNigeria Movement are drawn from all the 6 geopolitical zones (3 from each zone). They are: AtedoPeterside (Convener), Aisha Yesufu, Nuruddeen Lemu, Dike Chukwumerije, Folarin Falana (Falz), Bishop Matthew Hassan-Kukah, Arunma Oteh, Hamzat Lawal, Tomiwa Aladekomo, Osita Chidoka, Dr. Tony Rapu, ‘Yemi Adamolekun, Muhammad Ali Pate, HH Muhammad Sanusi II, Dr. Salamatu Hussaini Suleiman, Kashim Ibrahim-Imam, Ayisha Osori and Ibrahim Dahiru Waziri.
