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Young Nigerians have been urged to participate fully in the coming general elections in the country rather than just groaning about bad leadership. This call was made by the Executive Director, Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), Mr. Lanre Suraj who posited that it is wrong for any youth to sit on the fence in the coming elections. Suraj was speaking at the sixth edition of the tweet-a-thon series organised by the International Press Centre in Lagos with the theme "2015: Advancing youth participation in elections".

"It is crucial that young people engage the political landscape come 2015. With general elections coming up in February 2015, there is a need to encourage the participation of young people in the country. The Nigerian Youth must understand, in all ramifications, the power of his vote, before the 2015 general election. Participation in politics however is not just about voting alone, it includes holding elected leaders accountable. Youth participation in Elections is necessary for the transformation of the political system in Nigeria. Youths in the country must not sit on the fence in the coming election because this posses a great danger for the future and youths must engage, monitor and question political candidates and office holders. As long as we fail to participate and take political leadership, we shall have people who should not be there leading us take up the mantle of leadership." Mr. Suraj stated to the cross section of young people and media personnels who attended the event at the IPC office in Lagos.

In his opening remarks, Mr. 'Sanmi Falobi who moderated the session disclosed that "experience has shown that the youths come handy to politicians for other non-voting activities, like ballot snatching, use as thugs, breeding and escalation of violence, etc, which are inimical to the attainment of credible elections which makes it imperative for the youths to be sensitized about issues."

Other discussants at the event were Mr. Seye Joseph, Program officer, Media career Service; Mr. Lateef Adams, Deputy National Coordinator, Education Rights Campaign, and; Miss Peju Iteade of Civil Society News.
The speakers all stressed on the need for young people to participate fully in electioneering process by not just registering and voting but also using their social media accounts especially twitter to sensitize other young people on the need for them to be aware of how they are being ruled by political leaders.

Mr. Seye Joseph spoke directly to the youth urging them to wake up to challenges bedevilling the nation. "Youths need to wake up and start doing something. WE ARE SLEEPING! What are we using twitter, etc for," he asked rhetorically. "The future is not tomorrow but now," he added.

In his brief remark, the Director of the IPC, Mr. Lanre Arogundade urged young people to pay more attention to the affairs of government. He posited that it isn't enough to complain about bad governance rather young people should also try to profer solutions to issues in the nation. He further told a brief story about his time as the President of the National Association Of Nigerian Students (NANS) when the students movement was used to really demand for the welfare of the Nigerian students. Mr. Arogundade disclosed that NANS used to be a progressive and productive movement which would analyse the federal government's annual budget and iron out how it would favour young people in the country and if it doesn't call on the government to make amendment.

The December 23 Tweet-a-thon which was attended by BlackBox Nigeria amongst other leading Media and youth organizations generated almost a 100 tweets and it reached 65,896 accounts, thereby making 88,837 impressions during the session.

The event was supported by United Nation Development Programme (UNDP), Democratic Governance for Development (DGD) lll Project and its international partners, the European Union (EU), UK Aid and the Canadian Department for Foreign Affairs,Trade and Development (DFTAD).