Key Takeways from the Abuja Policy Dialogue on Defending Democracy Beyond Elections
Democracy is often associated with elections, but is voting every four years enough to protect our freedoms? This important question was at the heart of the Abuja Policy Lab (Second Edition) hosted by the German Embassy in Nigeria on 15 July 2026. Bringing together diplomats, civil society leaders, journalists, and policy experts, the event explored […]
Skilled and Stuck: What World Youth Skills Day Revealed About Nigeria’s Youth Employment Gap
Every 15 July, the world marks World Youth Skills Day, a UN observance established in 2014 to spotlight something governments, employers, and institutions still don’t take seriously enough: that skills, on their own, are not the same thing as opportunity. This year’s theme, “Skills for a Shared Future,” landed at a moment when that gap […]
NGYouthSDGs convenes stakeholders’ dialogue to shape Nigeria’s youth policy reforms
Stakeholders from government, development agencies, and youth-led organisations have outlined key reforms needed to strengthen Nigeria’s National Youth Policy, calling for dedicated financing, stronger accountability mechanisms, and greater youth participation in implementation and oversight. The recommendations emerged at a High-Level Stakeholders’ Dialogue on the National Youth Policy convened by the Network of Youth for Sustainable […]
Human Rights Are a Youth Issue: Reflections from the Amnesty International Nigeria Annual Report Launch
When the story of Nigeria’s future is told, it will not be written only in policy statements or development reports. It will be written in how we treat the most vulnerable among us and in whether young people choose to stand aside or to stand up. This reflection is drawn from our participation at the […]
South-South Youth Demand Seat at the Table as Nigeria Reviews National Youth Policy
Young people from across Nigeria’s South-South region have issued a clear demand to policymakers: genuine, structured inclusion at every stage of the National Youth Policy process, from design and implementation to monitoring and accountability. The call emerged from a zonal consultation on the National Youth Policy held in Port Harcourt, convened by the Network of […]
Young Nigerians Are Ready for Policy Leadership — The Youth Policy Lab Pilot Shows How
Nigeria’s youth population is one of the largest in the world, yet the spaces where national decisions are made often remain out of reach for them. Today, many youth leaders are pushing for the intentional inclusion of young people in policy processes that directly affect their lives. As a result, more young Nigerians want to […]
How Young Nigerians Are Reimagining Open Defecation Free Communities
In 2019, Nigeria’s President Mr Muhammadu Buhari signed Executive Order 009 to tackle open defecation with the Clean Nigeria 2025 target. With less than one month left, millions of Nigerians still lack access to safe sanitation. According to the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, less than 250 out of the 774 Local Government Areas of […]
The Next 80 Years Belong to Us: Youth, Leadership, and a Sustainable Future
Eighty years ago, the world came together under one promise; to build peace, promote justice, and secure prosperity for all. That promise birthed the United Nations. And as we mark eight decades of multilateralism, one truth rings clear: the future of this promise lies in the hands of young people. Today, youth make up nearly […]
Counting for Change: Driving Global Progress with Quality Data for Everyone
We live in an age of data abundance, but not accuracy. For all our satellites and supercomputers, much of the nations of the world still do not know how many people truly live within its borders. The world now houses an estimated value of over 8.1 billion people, yet nearly 60 countries haven’t conducted a […]
She Was Never the Weak One: The Power and Promise of the Nigerian Girl
Sometimes I think about the Nigerian girl, how she grows up learning to shrink and stretch at the same time. She learns to lower her eyes but raise her grades. To be quiet but still find her voice. To survive, she becomes soft where the world is hard and strong where it expects her to […]
