NIGERIAN YOUTH HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE: BARR. SAM ITODO, ESQ.

BARR. SAM ITODO ESQ.

Samson is a legal practitioner, Radio & TV Youth Presenter, youth development consultant, human rights activist and a social entrepreneur. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Youth Democracy Watch and Youth Democracy & Governance Journal. He has a wide range of experience in advocating for youth participation in the democratic process. He believes that young people must understand the concept of democracy in order to increase the value of their participation. He is an alumni of the International Visitors Leadership Program for Young African Leaders, a program sponsored by the US State Department. 

As a passionate youth activist, he has initiated and implemented many youth democracy projects funded by the National Endowment for Democracy NED Washington, National Democratic Institute, International Republican Institute, United Kingdom Department for International Development, United Nations Development Program, Canadian International Development Agency CIDA etc. 

As an elections specialist, Samson has conducted numerous voter education and election observation programs. A landmark achievement is the role he played in the 2011 election where he initiated a voter education TV/Radio program titled ‘MyVoteMyFuture’. The radio program now Youth Assembly has migrated from a voter education program to a youth platform for demanding democratic accountability for elected officials. Notably, he observed the Ghana Presidential Elections in 2008, 2010 Anambra election Re-run under the National Democratic Institute Election Observation Program. He was also the Election Observation Coordinator for the 2011 General elections in Plateau state. He is also a trained Political Party campaign finance monitor.

He has served as a speaker, discussant and panellist in conferences, roundtables and symposia too numerous to mention. He has served as a resource person to so many international election observation missions to Nigeria. Notably is the delegation co-led by former President Ketumile Masire of Botswana and former Prime Minister Joe Clark of Canada, and included Dr. Christiana Thorpe, chairperson of the National Electoral Commission of Sierra-Leone and other. The other other notable delegation is one led President John Kuffour, Former President of Ghana and other world leaders. As a community organizer and a coalition builder, Samson has worked and mobilized road transport workers and motor cycle owners to make their voices heard in the electoral process. He facilitated the creation of the North & South Youth Coalition on Electoral Reform and the Jos CSO Roundtable on the 2011 Elections. He is the Coordinator of Network for Civil Society Organisations on Voter & Civic Education NETCIV. Through his local government scorecard initiative he has been mobilizing grassroots youth in different communities to assess local governance in their community as a means of demanding democratic accountability. Samson is the brain behind Nigeria’s most consistent and vibrant youth coalition on constitution review, the Youth Alliance on Constitution & Electoral Reform (YACORE). The National youth coalition has representation across the 36 states of the Federation. He serves as the National Coordinator of the coalition. As a public policy activist, he has initiated and led the various campaigns for youth participation in the electoral reform process. He was the only youth invited by the National Assembly to deliver the youth position paper on the electoral and constitutional review process in 2009. He is also the chair of the coordinating secretariat of the Nigerian Youth Manifesto Project (a project supported by the International Republican Institute IRI). He is the coordinator of the secretariat of Partners for Electoral Reform (a project supported by National Democratic Institute NDI) an electoral reform advocacy whose main aim to advocate and achieve electoral reform before the 2015 elections in Nigeria. The partners include civil society groups such as Transition Monitoring Group, Federation of Muslim Women in Nigeria FOMWAN, Nigerian Bar Association NBA, Trade Union Congress, Youth Action Initiative Africa, Face Pam and Justice Development and Peace Commission. Presently, he is the head of the technical committee on the Nigerian Youth Agenda on Political Participation. A project supported by the United Nations Development Program. As a writer and a social critic he has some publications to his credit. Some of them include; 60year old As PDP National Youth Leader: An Insult To The Nigerian Youth, Causes Of Youth Restiveness & Violence In Northern Nigeria, Setting The Agenda For 2015 Elections, Constitutional & Electoral Reform: Mapping The Youth Action Space, Youth & Food Security In Africa, Youth & Political Participation, What was the Aim of the Youth Lunch with President Jonathan. As a student leader and activist, Samson was class representative throughout his days in the University of Jos. He is the Chairman, Student Representative Council of the Nigerian Law School, Abuja (2011/2012).

Samson is the Head, Research, Policy & Advocacy of Youth Action Initiative Africa, a notable youth organisation that builds young peoples’ capacity to engage governance processes through capacity building training, research and public policy advocacy. He is the Program Manager of Human Rights Volunteer Initiative, a brand that promotes and protects human rights. He is also a member of Civil Society Panel on Police Reform, undertaking a project Facilitate civil society inputs in the process of reforming and transforming the police in Nigeria through the convening of CSO led panel on police reform to complement the work of the Parry Osayande led committee on police reform set up by the government. He is the Programme Manager of Human Rights Volunteer Initiative which is a youth mobilization platforms that promotes human rights and undertakes human rights litigation on a pro-bono basis. He is the program coordinator of YIAGA’s Youth Organising School which runs programs on policy advocacy and civic engagement. He also coordinators the program on building effective youth wing of political parties. As a tech savvy youth activist, he is keen about using the new media as a tool to disseminate information, collaborate and stir up progressive interaction and action. He recently served as a game guide for a global virtual discussion ‘Catalyse for Change’ New paths out of poverty. It was facilitated by the institute for future and the Rockfeller Foundation. It was a 48hrs (3-5 April 2012) online discussion where young people from 50 countries exchanged very wonderful and fantastic ideas on how to better the communities through exploring new paths out of poverty. Samson sits on the technical advisory panels and committees of many youth organisations. He is single and loves reading, writing, travelling and networking.