Pictured. Dr Jamila Bio Ibrahim, Honourable Minister of Youth Development, representing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, at the UNESCO REF Nigeria Police Youths Summit, Abuja, 12 August 2024. Photograph: Nigeria Police Force.

ABUJA, Nigeria, 1 November 2026. The UNESCO REF Media Centre has released a new file in its In-Depth and Special Reports series. The report examines the UNESCO REF Nigeria Police Youths Summit, convened with the Nigeria Police Force at the Police Resource Centre, Jabi, Abuja, on 12 August 2024, the United Nations International Youth Day, together with the national conditions that brought the summit into being and the commitments made to young Nigerians on that day.

More than four hundred delegates attended the summit, held under the theme Enhancing the Nigerian Youth’s Value for National Security Intelligence. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, addressed the gathering through the Honourable Minister of Youth Development, Dr Jamila Bio Ibrahim. The Inspector-General of Police, Dr Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, attended in person, and the Honourable Minister of Police Affairs, Senator Ibrahim Gaidam, and the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, were represented. Every tier of the national security architecture was present in a single room with the young people it serves.

Why this report matters

Pourquoi ce rapport compte

The report covers the four hundred and forty-one days between the inauguration of 29 May 2023 and the summit of 12 August 2024. In that period the price of petrol nearly tripled within days, the naira fell sharply after the unification of the exchange rate, and food inflation reached a record 40.87 percent in June 2024. The #EndBadGovernance protests of 1 to 10 August 2024 followed.

Against that background, the Nigeria Police Force and UNESCO REF chose dialogue. The report shows how a working visit by the President of UNESCO REF to Louis Edet House, Nigeria Police Force Headquarters, during the protests became, within days, a national summit between the police leadership and the young. It is the first full account of that sequence on the public record.

Inside the report

Au cœur du rapport

The file is presented in six parts, preceded by a statement of Key Judgements and followed by indicators, an exhibit register and a graded source annex.

• The Shock. The reforms of May and June 2023 and their immediate effect on prices across five Nigerian cities.
• The Gathering Storm. The responses of the State, fourteen months of accumulated grievance, and the field work of UNESCO REF in the South-West before the streets filled.
• The Streets. The ten days of protest, the presidential broadcast of 4 August 2024 and the toll that followed.
• The Bridge. The working visit to Louis Edet House and the statement of the Force on partnership with young people.
• The Summit. The addresses delivered on 12 August 2024 on behalf of the President, the Minister of Police Affairs and the National Security Adviser, and by the Inspector-General and the keynote speaker.
• The Covenant. The open dialogue with the Inspector-General, the written resolutions of youth delegates and the commitments made on the record.

Voices on the record

Les voix au dossier

How the report was prepared

Méthode du rapport

The report draws on three classes of evidence: official statistics and official statements of government bodies; independent national and international press, including the Voice of America, The Guardian, ThisDay, Leadership, BusinessDay, PRNigeria and Arise News; and the first-hand documentation of the UNESCO REF Media Centre. Each key judgement carries a stated level of confidence that reflects the quality and independence of the evidence behind it.

The report makes no judgement on the durability of the commitments made at the summit. Where a commitment has not yet been independently reported as fulfilled, it is listed as an indicator to watch, and the UNESCO REF Media Centre will revise the file as each becomes measurable.

Read the full report

Lire le rapport complet

The report is published in full, with its exhibits, source annex and a ready citation. Policymakers, security and youth institutions, researchers, journalists and young Nigerians are invited to read it in full and to share it within their networks.

How to cite

Comment citer

UNESCO REF Media Centre, In-Depth and Special Reports, The Dispatch, EISSN 3156-5557, Abuja, Federal Republic of Nigeria. The full citation for the report appears on its closing page.

ENDS