Youths from across West Africa have called for the removal of legal, financial, and digital barriers that limit their participation in politics and governance. Their demands include lower nomination fees, campaign spending limits, and youth quotas. The call was contained in a communiqué adopted at the West Africa Youth Democracy Conference (WAYDC) held in Dakar, Senegal, with support from GIZ, the European Union, and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The communiqué, signed by Samuel Folorunsho, founder and executive director of Legis360, expressed concern over the absence of binding legal frameworks guaranteeing youth participation, financial barriers such as nomination fees and campaign costs, weak implementation of existing inclusion policies, and inadequate monitoring and sanction mechanisms. The youths appealed to West African governments to adopt specific legislation, including youth quotas, reduced candidacy fees, and campaign spending caps, to make political participation more inclusive.
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