The GoNigeria Initiative, which encourages youth participation in the electoral process, has announced the top three winners in the GoNigeria Hausa rap challenge.

They are: Emmanuel Enoch from Bauchi State, who emerged as the star prize winner of the competition and will receive a cash prize of one million naira; Adeniyi Olushola from Oyo State, who emerged as the first runner-up and goes home with cash prize of N600,000; and Aliyu Hassan from Kaduna State, who emerged as second runner-up and receives a cash prize of N400,000.

The Hausa rap challenge was organised to boost the public enlightenment campaign of GoNigeria, an advocacy initiated by Anap Foundation, which seeks to sensitise Nigerian youths to register to vote, obtain their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and participate in the electoral processes during the 2023 general elections.

The online challenge, which ran from June 10 to June 30, was aimed at engaging Nigerian youths with a strong inclination in rap to showcase their talents and be part of the ongoing GoNigeria advocacy campaign.

The poster boy for the GoNigeria Hausa rap challenge was renowned rapper, Buba Barnabas Luka (ClassiQ). The digital competition offered persons between ages 18 to 34, an opportunity to create a 45 seconds rap video while holding their PVC or registration slip and encouraging other youths to go register and pick up their voter cards, while playing with the acronym PVC in the video, using Hausa language.

The objective was to encourage the youth demographic to register with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and collect their PVCs while the Commission’s Continuous Voter Registration exercise was still opened.

The 18 advocates of the GoNigeria Movement are drawn from all the six geopolitical zones (three from each zone). They are: Atedo Peterside (convener), Aisha Yesufu, Nuruddeen Lemu, Dike Chukwumerije, Folarin Falana (Falz), Bishop Matthew Hassan-Kukah, Arunma Oteh, Hamzat Lawal, Tomiwa Aladekomo, Osita Chidoka, Dr. Tony Rapu, ‘Yemi Adamolekun, Muhammad Ali Pate, Muhammad Sanusi II, Dr. Salamatu Hussaini Suleiman, Kashim Ibrahim-Imam, Ayisha Osori and Ibrahim Dahiru Waziri.