The Youth Initiative for Advocacy Growth and Advancement Centre for Legislative Engagement (YIAGA-CLE), with the support of the European Union, has commissioned 10 academic researchers from across Nigerian universities as scholars to conduct advanced research on the legislature and national development. The YIAGA-CLE Scholar Programme (YSP) Induction workshop on advanced research methodology, which held from February 2 to 4, exposed these scholars to emerging trends in research methodology in the areas of legislature, elections, peace and security, youth and gender to generate research outcomes that would help improve policies for the development of Nigeria.

Speaking during the induction workshop, YIAGA Board Chairman and country director, PLAN International, Dr Hussein Abdu said that the Scholars Induction programme was the beginning of work with a cohort of scholars exposing them to dynamics of development research to shape thinking to enable the implementation of the nature of research useful to Nigerian development. The programme, according to Abdu, would promote the development of the legislature through innovative research, capacity development and advocacy on legislative practice and procedure.

Under the YSP, researchers will provide cutting edge research that will enhance the technical capacity of legislators and promote the development of the legislature.

Also speaking at the workshop, YIAGA Executive Director, Samson Itodo emphasised the need to strengthen the legislature to enable effective decision making saying: “There is also need to strengthen the relationship between CSOs with the academic personnel, ensuring that research produced in schools respond to the social and political needs of the society,” he stated.

In this vein, “a collaborative and complimentary approach will be used so that research output will be useful to all stakeholders in both the civil society and legislative terrain while using the language everyone understands,” Itodo said.

While appreciating YIAGA for the initiative, one of the scholars, Ernest Ereke said his capacity has been built immensely during the course of the workshop, saying the knowledge he got from the two-day induction workshop is equivalent to what he pays for online programmes on advanced research.

Update news