Introduction:

“The Delta State Youth Youth Parliament (DSYP) is a Legislative and Developmental Training Institution, established to strengthen, reinforce and consolidate efforts in mainstreaming and empowering Young People through meaningful Youth representation in driving the state policy and programs developmental agenda.”

The Delta State Youth Parliament (DSYP)  being under the tutelage of the Delta State House of Assembly with direct supervision of the Ministry of  Youth Development Delta State, is a non-partisan umbrella body for Delta Youths created in Compliance with the United Nations Charter on Youths Development and in pursuant to the resolutions of the Commonwealth Head of Governments meeting in the Republic of Malta 2005 as a platform through which their voices could be heard on government policies that affect them directly.

The resolutions seek the acceptance and compliance of all member States to establish, maintain and fund a functional Youth Parliament.

The Parliament sits and deliberates on matters of national importance as it affects youth development. Resolutions reached are passed as votes and proceedings to the Speaker of the State House Assembly and the Governor through the Ministry of Youth Development for considerations.

Aims of Delta State Youth Parliament

The aims of Delta State Youth Parliament are as follows:

• Providing opportunities for young people to learn about our democracy and influence public decision-making through legislative process.
• To expose them to democratic processes and practices thereby lending their voices to the issue of Governance.
• To serve as a training ground for future parliamentarian.
• To serve as an avenue for debate on issues of local, state and National Importance especially as it affects the Youths.

Objectives

The specific objectives of State Youth Parliament is to educate  youth about policies and to demonstrate through legislative function the followings:

• To create a budget line in the state government budget for Delta State Youth Parliament
• To serve as platform for the molding future parliamentarians.

Qualification Criteria

Eligible youths “MUST” satisfy the following conditions:

1. Must be an indigene of Delta State
2. Must be between the age bracket of 18-26 years
3. Must possess First Leaving School Certificate (FSLC) and Senior Secondary School Certificate (SSCE)
4. Without conviction of any criminal offence and must not belong to any secret cult.
5. Must have passion and commitment for youth development and leadership.
6. Must adhere strictly to the selection rules and regulations.

Selection Process

The approach that will be adopted for the selection process for the Delta State Youth Parliament includes the following:

• Sorting and entry of data-set in Application forms into database according to State constituencies.
• Analysis entails elimination and categorization of candidates by established standard/criteria for selection such as age, LGA of origin and credentials. (This help reduce candidates to a structured number).
• Invitation of shortlisted person from analysis to psychometric test – a combination of questions to objectively measure candidates cognitive, abilities, personality and knowledge. The examination question will be an aptitude test which will hold across the 3 senatorial districts simultaneously. (This further reduces the number to a sizable one).
• Candidates must meet the minimum cut-off score as set-out by the selection committee will be shortlisted to attend the Oral Interview exercise and Proficiency test (written interview).
• Analysis of both Oral Interview and Proficiency test will produce competent candidates across the 29 constituencies that will be shortlisted for the Delta State Youth Parliament.
• Gender formation and representation of the Delta State Youth Parliament will have a 70:30 of Male is to Female gender sensitivity.