Group trains Anambra youths in project monitoring

Participants and organisers at the event

The Creative Minds Centre for Youth and Community Development has trained no fewer than 50 young people drawn from the 21 local government areas of Anambra State to monitor public infrastructure projects, track government spending and promote transparency to strengthen citizen participation and accountability in governance.

The six-month programme with the theme, ‘Anambra Youth Accountability Hub’, supported by the Nigeria Youth Futures Fund, targets the monitoring and documentation of at least 100 public infrastructure projects across the state’s three senatorial zones.

Speaking in Awka over the weekend, the Executive Director of CYCD and Project Lead of AYAH, Ugochi Freeman, said the programme was designed to equip young people with practical skills to participate meaningfully in governance and improve public service delivery.

Freeman described the participants as emerging accountability champions whose involvement would strengthen community’s monitoring of public resources.

Freeman said, “Young people should no longer be regarded merely as leaders of tomorrow, but as active citizens capable of influencing governance today. The programme is not designed to antagonise government or embarrass public officials, but to encourage constructive engagement based on credible information.

“We urged the fellows to prioritise evidence over rumours, dialogue over confrontation, and uphold integrity, impartiality, respect, inclusion and confidentiality in their assignments.”

The Director of the Anambra State Project Evaluation, Monitoring and Supervision Unit, Prof. Ebuka Nwankwo, described the trainees as additional eyes and voices in their communities, whose reports could help government identify gaps in project implementation and improve service delivery.

Nwankwo said the programme aligned with PEMSU’s mandate to track, assess, evaluate and supervise public projects to ensure quality, value for money and timely delivery.

He stressed that effective monitoring required reliable data, field verification, community participation and objective reporting.

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He urged the participants to remain factual, constructive and consistent in their activities, assuring them of PEMSU’s readiness to collaborate with the initiative, share technical knowledge and engage with credible information gathered from the field.

Also speaking, the President-General of the Anambra State Town Union Council Youth Wing, Ken Okoli, urged young Nigerians to move beyond complaining about governance challenges and become actively involved in finding solutions through constructive engagement and civic responsibility.

“We called for conscious support for locally-manufactured goods and services. Domestic production could create employment, strengthen enterprises and contribute to national economic growth,” Okoli added.

The Anambra State Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Chukwukadibia Okoye, represented by Dr Jude Nwadavid, said citizens’ oversight was necessary to ensure that public expenditure translated into measurable development outcomes.

He maintained that participatory budgeting and effective monitoring would help ensure that government resources addressed community needs.

The resident Anti-Corruption Commissioner of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, Anambra State, Dio Emmanuel, represented by Superintendent Sanni Ohiare Samson, identified integrity and accountability as foundations of good governance.

He said corruption thrived where integrity was weak and accountability absent, urging the participants to uphold personal integrity, monitor public projects responsibly and report suspected wrongdoing through lawful channels.

The representative of the Anambra State Ministry of Justice, Lilian Osakwe, who is also the Secretary of the Anambra State Anti-Corruption Strategy, addressed the participants on the roles of ANSACS, the Rule of Law and the corruption programme in promoting institutional accountability and tackling corrupt practices.