Advocacy: Online And Media Engagement

#TheNigeriaWeWantDialogue

The history of youth activism and political participation in Nigeria is not complete without the strategic role universities played as spaces for molding student leaders and developing youth perspectives on policy issues.

However, university student activism in Nigeria has suffered a decline over the years due to continuous intimidation, unfavorable university policies and lack of resources for sustainable engagement at that level.

The NYFF will seek to provide an avenue to reawaken student activism in Nigeria, demystify what leadership means, inspire active citizenship, and support them in collectively articulating their visions of the future while catalyzing pathways for them to decisively participate in that future themselves.

To this end, the NYFF will engage university and tertiary-level students across the six geo-political zones in Nigeria through an online campaign and campus tour that will foster policy debates on key socio- economic issues and inspire active youth participation in electoral and decision-making processes – especially in light of the 2023 general elections.

A Blended National University Debate Competition

To drive conversations about key national issues that affect youth in Nigeria, the campus tour will kick off with an online debate competition targeted at university and tertiary level students across Nigeria between ages 18-30 which will engage both online and offline platforms and culminate in a physical finale event.

Online Campaign

I. Students will be encouraged to participate in this competition by forming teams of between 3 to 5 to represent their university and submit a video pitch in proposing an innovative solution to a selected social challenge.
II. The video submissions will be uploaded on the NYFF portal if it is active before the campaign kicks off. Alternatively, the teams can share their videos online to be reposted on the NYFF social media pages.
III. The teams will be encouraged to garner engagement for their videos on the NYFF socialmedia pages and receive feedback from the public and their peers to test and further develop their change ideas.
IV. teams would be shortlisted from across the pool of online applications based on the strength of their ideas and inclusion of diverse regions, women and persons with disabilities.

Campus Tour and Conferences

While the online campaign is ongoing, NYFF will launch the #TheNigeriaWeWant Campus Tour across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria. These high-level youth leadership conferences across the six geo-political zones in Nigeria to inspire active citizenship, demystify what true leadership is, and drive youth engagement in electoral and decision-making processes. The conference will include individual and panel discussions by youth leaders, influencers and campus ambassadors who are preferably non-partisan but strong advocates for active citizenship and grassroots engagement. The selected speakers will include a mix of national and state/local- leaders who can speak to issues affecting young people and inspire them to actively participate and take action within their universities and communities.

The campus conferences will also host regional in-person competitions where teams that are participating in the online competition can register to pitch their ideas live and compete for a guaranteed spot at the national finale. In total, 6 finalists will emerge from the regional competitions, while a national winner would be announced at the finale. The final youth conference (national finale) will be held at a central location (in Abuja) and the finalists will pitch their ideas to top policy-makers, thematic experts and government officials who will be in attendance. The finalists and national winner would get grants ($1,000 and $2500 respectively) and close mentoring from top policy makers and activists to support the implementation of their policy ideas.

At the end of the debate competition, a compilation of the best ideas will be used to develop a visualized report that will be downloadable through the NYFF portal. This report will also serve as a key resource for engaging policy makers and the government.

Leadership Development Resources

To ensure that a critical mass of young leaders are equipped to innovatively address Nigeria’s present and future challenges, the NYFF will also provide free policy and leadership development resources (videos and tool kits) through the online platform.

The student teams that would take part in the debate competition will be encouraged to leverage these resources to gain requisite skills that would strengthen their policy ideas/proposals.

The NigeriaWeWant Monthly Conversations

Beyond university students, the NYFF portal is designed to engage a diverse group of young Nigerians. With features such as an online forum that fosters conversations on a range of local and national topics, the NYFF portal will also provide an innovative way for young Nigerians to sharpen and broaden their perspectives.

Through monthly virtual events (sometimes with invited experts and senior policy makers), they get to discuss their local knowledge and experiences with peers from different backgrounds. Every quarter, two young Nigerians will be selected to coordinate these discussions, and it’d be rotational to ensure regional, religious, and gender representation.