YNaija.com, the Internet Newspaper for Young Nigerians, has launched a new opinion series called Y! Politico – which will present and document the voices and perspectives of young people in and around politics.

Y! Politico joins other popular opinion columns on YNaija.com including the Y! FrontPage, Y! Arena, Y! Superbloggers, and 30 Days, 30 Voices.

“Unlike the FrontPage that presents the voice of young Nigerian leaders on national issues with a general perspective, this zeroes in specifically on politics,” says Hauwa Gambo, an associate editor. “To that extent, we are selecting a total of 14 writers who either belong to a political party or very clearly identify with a political party.

“As we move towards 2015, this will be the prime platform for an insight into Young Nigeria’s political conversation; a marketplace of ideas, where the competing visions and ideologues of the various platforms flourish and can aid decision-making for young Nigerians – it will be loud, it will be lavish, it will be sometimes even be over the top, but that is the nature of politics, and democracy, and we look forward to providing an arena for thatimportant engagement.”

The series launches on Monday, January 7 2013 with the first set of 7 columnists drawn from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the Labour Party.

“We are excited by the diversity of the voices and the range from the South-South to the North,” says Gambo. “We are looking forward to expanding that diversity in terms of affiliation and, especially, gender with the next seven columnists.”

If you are female, actively belong to a political party, are below the age of 35, and wish to join the series, email a profile, and a recent article to [email protected].

Below are the first 7 columnists for the Y! Politico series:

Y! Politico Monday: Ohimai Godwin Amaize (Registered Member, People’s Democratic Party)

Popularly known as Mr. Fix Nigeria, Amaize was born on September 9, 1984. He is an alumnus of the premier University of Ibadan, Nigeria with a post-graduate certificate in “Managing for Integrity”, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary. He tweets @MrFixNigeria.

 

Y! Politico Tueday: Dada Olusegun (Registered Member, Congress for Progressive Change)

Olusegun is a writer, social change advocate, political columnist on #EkekeeeDotCom and contributor to numerous online blogs and newspapers. He is also a motivational speaker and involved in youth empowerment and enlightenment programmes nationwide. He tweets @DOlusgun

 

Y! Politico Wednesday: Ife Adebayo (Registered Member, Action Congress of Nigeria)

Adebayo is an IT Consultant with work experience in Germany, United Kingdom and Nigeria and currently runs his own IT firm in Lagos, Nigeria. An ardent believer in the Nigerian project, he is domiciled in the CAN in Epe Lagos and was an active member of the UK branch of the party, holding the post of Youth Leader for the year 2010/2011. He tweets @IfeAdebayo

 

Y! Politico Thursday: Michael Olanrewaju Orodare (Registered Member, Labour Party)

Orodare has worked in the Office of the Chief Press Secretary to the Ondo Governor as a Media Assistant and has garnered experience writing journalism experience in the The Nation Newspaper working with the paper’s Sunday Desk). He blogs at www.michaelorodare.blogspot.com and tweets @MichaelOrodare.

 

Y! Politico Friday: Lai Labode (Registered Member, Peoples Democratic Party)

Labode is the CEO of Salt & Einstein Ltd, a visionary business logic firm with vast experience of the peculiar African emerging markets. A lawyer and alumnus of the prestigious Harvard Business School where he received certificates in corporate restructuring, Mergers & Acquisitions, Negotiation and Strategic Agility, he is the Chairman of the PDP Youth Circuit, President of the People’s Senate and chairs the National Youth Movement for Constitutional Review. He is married to Ijeoma and they have two boys, Salt & Einstein. He tweets @LaiLabode.

 

Y! Politico Saturday: Salihu Tanko Yakasai (Registered Member, Congress for Progressive Change)

Yakasai is a proud husband and father of two. He is a broadcaster with Freedom Radio, Kano. He believes in the unity and development of Nigeria, which paved his way into community activities with the aide of NGO’s in transforming our society for the better. He tweets @Dawisu.

 

Y! Politico Sunday: Atom Lim (Political Leaning: Congress for Progresssive Change)

Lim is a Nigerian media and communications practitioner. He worked at NEXT publications as a sub-editor before joining the Africa Leadership Forum as web and publications editor. Atom is a regular social commentator and tweets @AtomLim.