2026 – UNESCO REF

UNESCO REF Media Centre | News

Osun State Partners UNESCO REF to Pilot The VOICE Initiative in Nigeria

Osun becomes the first sub-national government in Nigeria to implement the professional advancement programme for women with disabilities, a model set to scale to 120,000 women nationally and to all 54 African nations by 2030.

UNESCO REF Media Centre | Osogbo, Nigeria | 16 October 2026

OSOGBO, Nigeria, 16 October 2026. The Government of Osun State has entered into partnership with the Read and Earn Federation, for UNESCO (UNESCO REF), to pilot The VOICE Initiative in Nigeria. With this partnership, Osun State becomes the first sub-national government in the Federation to implement the Initiative, a professional advancement programme that prepares women with disabilities for dignified, independent and financially sustainable employment in the global digital economy.

The State has mobilised its first cohort of 64 women for Phase 1 of the pilot, with a second cohort to follow in Phase 2. Data verification for the Phase 1 cohort begins on 21 October 2026, to be followed by a virtual orientation, a three-week induction and the six-week programme itself.

A commitment to every citizen

Un engagement envers chaque citoyen

Speaking for the Osun State Government, Hon. Bankole Omisore, Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on the Sustainable Development Goals, said the partnership reflects the priorities of the administration.

He stated that The VOICE Initiative aligns with the commitment and vision of His Excellency, Governor Ademola Jackson Nurudeen Adeleke, to ensure that every citizen of the State is well cared for.

The Initiative was launched on 1 October 2026 in commemoration of Nigeria’s Independence Anniversary, and Osun State serves as its official partner and first pilot state. The standard set in Osun will guide the national and continental rollout.

Two generations, one intervention

Deux générations, une seule intervention

The President of UNESCO REF, Prince Abdulsalami Ladigbolu-Oranmiyan, described the Initiative as an investment that reaches beyond the women enrolled.

“This programme is about two generations, through one intervention. When we equip a mother with a disability to earn a dignified income, we protect the schooling of her children. Our parents and our out-of-school children are not two separate challenges. They are one story, and The VOICE Initiative addresses both at once. Osun State has shown the courage to lead, and in doing so it has become the model for every other State of the Federation.”

Prince Abdulsalami Ladigbolu-Oranmiyan, President, UNESCO REF

The design rests on established research. Research cited by UNESCO REF finds that parental disability reduces children’s school attendance, with a larger effect where the mother has the disability, and that income controlled by women is more often spent on children’s welfare. Nigeria has an estimated 20 million out-of-school children and youth, according to data published by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and the Global Education Monitoring Report.

The programme and its return to Government

Le programme et ses retombées pour le Gouvernement

The first course under the Initiative, AI Innovation and Digital Enterprise (TIER I), is delivered fully online through The Lichfield Academy over six weeks and 78 lessons. It is open to women with disabilities aged 18 and above who hold a first degree or its equivalent in any discipline, and requires no prior background in technology. The programme is built around a single outcome: that each graduate secures remote employment, locally or internationally, in the digital economy.

According to UNESCO REF, the Initiative is not a welfare scheme but a fiscal instrument that returns value to the public purse. Its projected benefits to Government include:

No cost to Government. Training is fully funded by UNESCO REF through its Educational Financial Facility Scheme (EFFS), at no cost to the State or Federal Government.
Personal income tax. Each Fellow in formal employment contributes to the tax base under the progressive rates of the Nigeria Tax Act, 2025.
Value Added Tax. Household spending by employed Fellows generates VAT revenue.
Local multiplier. Income earned, often from international employers, is spent within the State economy and circulates through local businesses.
Recovered productivity. The International Labour Organization estimates that low- and middle-income countries lose between 3 and 7 per cent of GDP through the exclusion of persons with disabilities from work.
Human security. A 2023 UNDP study found that about a quarter of voluntary recruits to violent extremist groups cited job opportunities as their main reason for joining. Dignified employment strengthens households and communities against that risk.

Full details of the programme, its curriculum and its policy papers are available on The VOICE Initiative page.

Global alignment

Alignement mondial

An estimated 1.3 billion people, or 16 per cent of the world’s population, experience significant disability, according to the World Health Organization. The VOICE Initiative responds directly to the international and national commitments that address their inclusion.

Framework	Provision	How The VOICE Initiative responds
SDG 10, Reduced Inequalities (primary)	Target 10.2: social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of disability or sex	Moves women with disabilities into the formal digital economy
SDG 8, Decent Work	Target 8.5: full and productive employment for all, including persons with disabilities	Built around one outcome: remote employment for every graduate
SDG 4, Quality Education	Target 4.5: equal access to education for persons with disabilities	Fully funded, accessible professional training
SDG 5, Gender Equality	Women’s full participation in economic life	Serves women exclusively
SDG 1, 16 and 17	No poverty; peace and strong institutions; partnerships	Household income, human security, and a State and civil society partnership
UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities	Article 6 (women with disabilities), Article 24 (education), Article 27 (work and employment)	Equal access to skills and to work for women with disabilities
Maputo Protocol	Article 23: protection of women with disabilities	Economic empowerment of women with disabilities
African Union Protocol on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Africa, 2018	Rights to education and to work	Continental rollout to all 54 African nations by 2030
Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, 2018 (Nigeria)	Inclusion of persons with disabilities in education and employment	State-level implementation, beginning in Osun

From Osun to Africa

D’Osun à l’Afrique

The Osun pilot opens a four-year programme running from 2026 to 2030. National upscaling to 120,000 women, 20,000 in each of Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones, is targeted for 2027 and will be led by Dr Safiyyah Hassan Shaibu, Strategic Ambassador for UNESCO REF SIP-ALPHA. The Initiative will then extend to ECOWAS member states in 2028 and to all 54 African nations by 2030.

ENDS

Notes to editors

Notes aux rédactions

About The VOICE Initiative. The VOICE Initiative (Visionary, Outcomes-Driven AI for Inclusion, Capacity for Empowerment) is a professional advancement programme for women with disabilities in Nigeria and Africa, established by UNESCO REF under its SIP-ALPHA framework. Its first course, AI Innovation and Digital Enterprise (TIER I), is delivered through The Lichfield Academy. Partners include The Lichfield Partners and Associates, the Maryam Babangida National Centre for Women Development, the Women Development Centre FCT, the UNESCO National Commission Nigeria and NEPAD_EY. Full details: unesco-ref.org/the-voice-initiative.

About UNESCO REF. The Read and Earn Federation, for UNESCO (UNESCO REF) works to strengthen human and institutional capacity across Nigeria and Africa through education, research and professional development, in alignment with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Media enquiries. UNESCO REF Media Centre, [email protected]

Sources

UNESCO REF Media Centre | Exclusive Report

Exclusive | Behind Closed Doors: UNESCO REF President in Private Audience with Former Head of State General Yakubu Gowon

Away from the cameras, the founder of the National Youth Service Corps and the President of UNESCO REF considered how the institution General Gowon created more than half a century ago could be called to a new national purpose. The full account appears in the February 2027 edition of the UNESCO REF Exclusive Reports.

UNESCO REF Media Centre | Exclusive Reports | Abuja, Nigeria | 10 October 2026

Exclusive. This is a preview. The complete account of the audience is published in the February 2027 edition of the UNESCO REF Exclusive Reports, available to accredited readers.

ABUJA, Nigeria, 10 October 2026. Some of the most consequential conversations in public life take place in rooms without cameras. In one such room, the President of the Read and Earn Federation, for UNESCO (UNESCO REF), Prince Abdulsalami Ladigbolu-Oranmiyan, was received in private audience by General Yakubu Gowon, Nigeria’s Head of State from 1966 to 1975 and the founder of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). Their conversation turned on a single question: how the institution General Gowon created to bind a nation together might now be called to equip a new generation to feed it.

The engagement is the subject of “Behind Closed Doors”, the February 2027 edition of the UNESCO REF Exclusive Reports, the series published by the UNESCO REF Editorial Board as the primary diplomatic record of the Federation. This preview sets out the context and the themes of the audience. The complete account is reserved for the edition itself.

A statesman and his institution

Un homme d’État et son institution

Few Nigerians have shaped the institutions of the Federation as lastingly as General Gowon. In 1973, in the aftermath of the civil war, his administration established the National Youth Service Corps, sending young graduates to serve in States other than their own so that a generation might come to know, and belong to, the whole country.

More than five decades later the NYSC endures, present in every State of the Federation and in the Federal Capital Territory, and still a rite of passage for young graduates. In December 2024, in recognition of his contribution to national unity, the Federal Government renamed the University of Abuja in his honour.

The question on the table

La question posée

The audience took up a question that has occupied UNESCO REF in its work with young Nigerians: whether the reach, discipline and national presence of the NYSC can be harnessed for a further national purpose, beyond the civic duty for which it was founded.

UNESCO REF regards each year’s cohort of corps members as a strategic national asset: educated, mobile and present in every community. Directed towards agriculture, enterprise and service delivery, such a cohort could become one of the most effective means available to the nation for advancing food security and the Sustainable Development Goals at the grassroots.

From civic duty to strategic instrument

Du devoir civique à l’instrument stratégique

The conversation drew on work already under way. UNESCO REF engages young graduates through the Young Women in Agriculture (YWA) programme, the GET EDUCATED pathway for youth aged 18 to 35, and the modular water purification pilot inaugurated at the NYSC Federal Capital Territory site under SIP-ALPHA Category 11. Each offers an early indication of what the scheme’s national infrastructure can carry.

To consult the founder of the NYSC on its future was a gesture of respect as much as of strategy. It placed UNESCO REF’s ambitions for young Nigerians within the lineage of an institution built on the conviction that service to the nation is itself a form of education.

Inside the Exclusive Report

Au cœur du Rapport exclusif

The February 2027 edition gives the full account of the audience, prepared under the Editorial Board’s standards for the series. In line with those standards:

Sourcing. Each account is drawn from a principal or official present at the engagement.
Verification. Names, offices, places and dates are checked against the institutional record.
Review. The complete text is reviewed in full by the UNESCO REF Editorial Board before release.
Distribution. Complete accounts are released to accredited readers with each edition.

Researchers, institutions and members of the press may request access from the Editorial Board at [email protected].

Also in the Exclusive Reports

Également dans les Rapports exclusifs

“Behind Closed Doors” sits within a register of editions documenting the Federation’s engagements with Nigeria’s leaders and traditional institutions, among them:

The Signature Edition, December 2026: the advocacy visit of Dr Mrs Elizabeth Egbetokun to the Olubadan of Ibadan on Young Women in Agriculture.
January 2027: Prince Abdulsalami Ladigbolu-Oranmiyan on the past, present and future of a national institution.
March 2027: the private conversations behind the UNESCO REF and POWA 12 Million YWA National Launch.
May 2027: “Seeds of Policy”, a private audience with Chief Audu Ogbeh on food security and youth development.

Global alignment

Alignement mondial

Framework	Provision	How the dialogue responds
SDG 2, Zero Hunger	Target 2.3: double agricultural productivity and the incomes of small-scale producers	Positions corps members as agents of agricultural transformation
SDG 8, Decent Work	Target 8.6: reduce youth not in employment, education or training	Skills and enterprise pathways during and after service
SDG 4, Quality Education	Target 4.4: relevant skills for employment and entrepreneurship	Links national service to skills development
SDG 16, Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions	Strong, inclusive institutions and national cohesion	Builds on the NYSC’s founding mission of national unity
SDG 17, Partnerships	Target 17.17: public and civil society partnerships	Engagement between UNESCO REF and the founder of a national institution
African Union Agenda 2063	Aspiration 6: development driven by the potential of African youth	Youth service as a vehicle for national development
African Youth Charter	Youth participation, education and employment	Young graduates at the centre of national service and enterprise

How to cite

Comment citer

UNESCO REF Editorial Board, “Behind Closed Doors”, Exclusive Reports, UNESCO REF Media Centre, February 2027, EISSN 3156-5557, Abuja, Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Read the Exclusive Report. Visit the UNESCO REF Exclusive Reports for the full account and the complete register of editions: unesco-ref.org/execlusive-report.

ENDS

Notes to editors

Notes aux rédactions

About the Exclusive Reports. The Exclusive Reports are the primary diplomatic record of the Read and Earn Federation, for UNESCO (UNESCO REF), published two to four times a year by the UNESCO REF Editorial Board through the UNESCO REF Media Centre (EISSN 3156-5557).

About the NYSC. The National Youth Service Corps was established in 1973 under the administration of General Yakubu Gowon to promote national unity and integration through a one-year national service by Nigerian graduates.

Media enquiries. UNESCO REF Media Centre, [email protected]

Sources

Young Women in Agriculture, UNESCO REF

Behind Closed Doors, Exclusive Reports, UNESCO REF Media Centre, February 2027 edition

Nigerian government renames UniAbuja after Yakubu Gowon, ICIR, 16 December 2024

UNESCO REF MEDIA CENTRE | NEWS

UNESCO REF President Concludes Strategic Working Visit to National Library of Nigeria

UNESCO REF and the National Library of Nigeria finalise the framework for Anchored in Evidence: Digital Voices for a Stable Society, a fully sponsored programme training 600 young bloggers, content creators and online journalists to anchor public communication in verified fact.

UNESCO REF Media Centre | Abuja, Nigeria | 28 September 2026

ABUJA, Nigeria, 28 September 2026. The President of the Read and Earn Federation, for UNESCO (UNESCO REF), Prince Abdulsalami Ladigbolu-Oranmiyan, today concluded a strategic working visit to the National Library of Nigeria in Abuja. The visit was hosted by the National Librarian and Chief Executive Officer of the National Library of Nigeria, Prof. Chinwe Veronica Anunobi.

The working session finalised the modalities of a strategic partnership between the two institutions under Anchored in Evidence: Digital Voices for a Stable Society, a professional programme that places the nation’s foremost repository of knowledge at the centre of Nigeria’s digital conversation.

The programme

Le programme

Anchored in Evidence is a three-week, fully online professional training programme, fully sponsored by UNESCO REF under its Educational Financial Facility Scheme (EFFS). Its pilot cohort will comprise 600 young Nigerians drawn from all six geopolitical zones of the Federation.

The programme equips bloggers, digital content creators and online journalists with three core capacities:

- Evidence-based digital communication. The discipline of verifying claims before publishing them.
- Responsible national imaging. Communicating about Nigeria accurately, fairly and with a sense of public responsibility.
- The Library as primary source. The habit of consulting the National Library of Nigeria for empirical fact, rather than relying on unverified social media trends.

The working session

La séance de travail

Discussions between Prince Ladigbolu-Oranmiyan and Prof. Anunobi covered four areas:

1. The partnership framework between UNESCO REF and the National Library of Nigeria.
2. Modalities for the identification, mobilisation and enrolment of participants.
3. The pilot region strategy for the initial cohort of 600 trainees.
4. The media awareness plan to secure the visibility and credibility of the programme launch.

Prince Ladigbolu-Oranmiyan emphasised that the programme requires no financial commitment from the National Library of Nigeria, as it is fully funded by UNESCO REF. He noted that the collaboration will equip young Nigerians with critical digital skills while reinforcing the Library’s role as a trusted custodian of knowledge and fact in the digital age.

Prof. Anunobi welcomed the partnership, highlighting its alignment with the Library’s ongoing digital transformation agenda and with its mission to serve as Nigeria’s foremost repository of credible information.

The visit concluded with mutual agreement on the importance of institutional synergy in addressing misinformation and in promoting a culture of responsible communication.

Why it matters

Les enjeux

The programme responds to a challenge that is now recognised as global. The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2025 ranked misinformation and disinformation as the most severe global risk over the next two years, for the second consecutive year.

Those who shape the digital conversation are often the least equipped to verify it. A 2024 UNESCO survey of digital content creators, published as Behind the Screens, found that 62 per cent do not systematically verify information before sharing it. The same study found strong demand for training: more than 9,000 creators enrolled in the free course UNESCO launched in response.

Anchored in Evidence answers that demand in Nigeria, one of the youngest populations in the world, by pairing digital creators with an institution whose statutory mandate is to collect, preserve and make available the nation’s recorded knowledge.

Global alignment

Alignement mondial

Framework	Provision	How Anchored in Evidence responds
SDG 16, Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions (primary)	Target 16.10: public access to information and protection of fundamental freedoms	Connects the public conversation to a national repository of verified information
SDG 4, Quality Education	Target 4.4: youth with relevant skills, including ICT skills; Target 4.7: knowledge for global citizenship	Fully sponsored professional training in evidence-based digital communication
SDG 8, Decent Work	Target 8.6: reduce the share of youth not in employment, education or training	Builds professional standards in the creator and digital media economy
SDG 17, Partnerships for the Goals	Target 17.17: effective public and civil society partnerships	A partnership between a federal institution and UNESCO REF, at no cost to Government
United Nations Global Principles for Information Integrity, 2024	Trust, resilience and public empowerment in the information ecosystem	Trains the producers of public information to verify before they publish
UNESCO Guidelines for the Governance of Digital Platforms, 2023	Media and information literacy as a pillar of a healthy information environment	Applies media and information literacy to professional content creation
IFLA-UNESCO Public Library Manifesto, 2022	Libraries as gateways to knowledge and to reliable information	Positions the National Library as the primary source for digital voices
African Union Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa, 2020 to 2030	Digital skills and a trusted digital environment	Builds digital capacity among young Africans
Agenda 2063, Aspiration 6	Development driven by the potential of African people, especially youth	Engages 600 young Nigerians across all six geopolitical zones
National Library of Nigeria Act	Mandate to collect, preserve and make available Nigeria’s recorded knowledge	Turns that mandate into a daily reference point for the digital public

Next steps

Prochaines étapes

With the modalities agreed, the two institutions will proceed to the identification, mobilisation and enrolment of the pilot cohort and to the media awareness campaign for the launch. The pilot cohort of 600 participants will serve as the model for future expansion, demonstrating the contribution of evidence-based digital voices to national stability.

ENDS

Notes to editors

Notes aux rédactions

About Anchored in Evidence. Anchored in Evidence: Digital Voices for a Stable Society is a three-week professional training programme for bloggers, digital content creators and online journalists, delivered online in partnership with the National Library of Nigeria and fully sponsored by UNESCO REF under its Educational Financial Facility Scheme (EFFS).

About the National Library of Nigeria. The National Library of Nigeria is the federal institution charged with collecting, preserving and making available the recorded knowledge of the nation.

Media enquiries. UNESCO REF Media Centre, [email protected],

Sources

UNESCO: 9,000 content creators sign up for training on how to avoid spreading misinformation, Kolsquare.

Leadership: President of UNESCO REF

Office of the National Librarian, National Library of Nigeria

Global Risks Report 2025, World Economic Forum

Behind the Screens: the credibility challenge of digital content creators, United Nations University

UNESCO survey: two thirds of digital content creators skip fact-checking, IT Edge News

UNESCO REF MEDIA CENTRE | INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERSHIP NAOWA

NAOWA President Accepts Appointment as Strategic Ambassador for UNESCO REF SIP-ALPHA

UNESCO REF Media Centre | Abuja, Nigeria | 28, July 2026 | Ref: UNESCO REF/MEDIA/2026/NAOWA SIP ALPHA AMB 01

Dr Safiyyah Hassan Shaibu, 25th President of the Nigerian Army Officers’ Wives Association (NAOWA), brings six decades of grassroots presence into the UNESCO REF Strategic Intervention Programmes for Accelerated Learning and Productive Human Asset (SIP-ALPHA), aligned with the 2030 Agenda and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

ABUJA, Nigeria, 17 October 2026. The Read and Earn Federation, for UNESCO (UNESCO REF) announces that Dr Safiyyah Hassan Shaibu, 25th President of the Nigerian Army Officers’ Wives Association (NAOWA) and wife of the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu, has formally accepted her nomination as Strategic Ambassador for the UNESCO REF Strategic Intervention Programmes for Accelerated Learning and Productive Human Asset (SIP-ALPHA) in Nigeria.

The acceptance was conveyed by official correspondence dated 28 July 2026, under NAOWA reference NAOWA/NAT/G1/300/63. It is a considered institutional decision, taken, in Dr Shaibu’s own words, after having “carefully considered the objectives, scope and strategic vision of the SIP-ALPHA Initiative.”

The woman behind the mandate

La femme derrière le mandat

At her first Executive Meeting as 25th President of NAOWA, held in Abuja in February 2026, Dr Shaibu set out the principle that has guided her tenure: “When a woman is empowered, a family is strengthened; when families are stable, the military community is stronger.” She reminded members that the association was built on service and sacrifice, and that its decisions would affect thousands of families across formations and commands nationwide.

Her record since then reflects that conviction. Under her leadership, NAOWA has inaugurated new schools in Zaria, Badagry and at Bola Ahmed Tinubu Barracks in Abuja, begun construction of primary and secondary schools at Bola Ahmed Tinubu Barracks, and organised the 2026 NAOWA 21st Century Teacher Transformation Training. Its Youth Empowerment Project has trained 394 young people in ICT and fashion design, and more than 15,000 relief packages have reached members, widows and places of worship.

The institution she leads

L’institution qu’elle dirige

NAOWA began in the 1950s as the Army Wives Association and took its present name in 1963. For more than six decades it has operated community health centres, schools, day-care centres, skills acquisition and vocational centres and the Girl Child Education Programme, across a network that follows the Nigerian Army into garrison towns throughout the Federation.

It reaches communities where institutional presence is often thin, and it does so as a non-governmental organisation that receives no subvention from federal or state government. Scholars of Nigerian civil society have described it as the most powerful women’s organisation in the country.

The home front and the national mandate

Le front intérieur et le mandat national

Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu was appointed Chief of Army Staff by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on 30 October 2025. A field commander whose career spans counter-insurgency operations in the North East, he received the Service and Sacrifice Award at the 2026 Armed Forces Celebration and Remembrance Day ceremony at the State House, Abuja.

Behind every theatre of operations is a home front, and behind every soldier is a family sustained by sacrifice. Dr Shaibu has lived that reality. Her decision to commit NAOWA’s network to a development framework aligned with the United Nations agenda carries the lived experience of military families across the Federation.

A convergence of two institutions

La convergence de deux institutions

The road to the appointment began on 18 May 2026, when the President of UNESCO REF, Prince Abdulsalami Ladigbolu-Oranmiyan, held a high-level consultative engagement with Dr Shaibu at NAOWA headquarters in Abuja. The meeting examined institutional pathways for advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in Nigeria through the SIP-ALPHA framework.

Two institutions met. One brought seventeen years of multi-sectoral development architecture, through which, according to UNESCO REF, 1.2 million Nigerian youths have been mobilised. The other brought six decades of grassroots presence and community trust earned through consistent service. Each recognised in the other what neither possessed alone. On 28 July 2026, the conversation became a formal institutional covenant.

In her own words

Dans ses propres mots

“Having carefully considered the objectives, scope and strategic vision of the SIP-ALPHA Initiative, particularly its alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union Agenda 2063, I further recognise its strong emphasis on sustainable development, food security, education, youth advancement, health resilience and community empowerment. It is therefore with great pleasure that I formally accept this nomination and appointment as Strategic Ambassador for SIP-ALPHA.

I look forward to collaborating closely with UNESCO REF, development partners and other relevant stakeholders in achieving the objectives of SIP-ALPHA for the benefit of our nation and future generations.”

Dr Safiyyah Hassan Shaibu, 25th President, Nigerian Army Officers’ Wives Association, Abuja, 28 July 2026

The UNESCO REF President responds

La réponse du Président de l’UNESCO REF

“Dr Safiyyah Hassan Shaibu’s formal acceptance of this nomination is one of the most consequential institutional developments in UNESCO REF’s seventeen-year history. NAOWA does not lend its name; it lends its capacity, its networks and its communities. As Strategic Ambassador for SIP-ALPHA, she brings to our framework the institutional discipline of an organisation forged in service, the grassroots reach of a network that no programme map can fully capture, and the moral authority of women’s leadership at its most credible.

Nigeria’s development cannot be delivered from Abuja alone. It must be assembled, community by community, in every barracks, every garrison town and every local government area of this Federation. That assembly now has a new and formidable architect.”

Prince Abdulsalami Ladigbolu-Oranmiyan, President and Secretary General, UNESCO REF

What the appointment means

La portée de la nomination

SIP-ALPHA is UNESCO REF’s most ambitious institutional architecture: a governance innovation that moves development delivery from siloed programmes to an integrated, systems-based approach across education, agriculture, health resilience, youth empowerment and sustainable community development.

As Strategic Ambassador, Dr Shaibu brings NAOWA’s national footprint into SIP-ALPHA’s implementation architecture, with the aim of accelerating delivery across all 774 local government areas of the Federation. Her mandate already extends to two flagship programmes:

Young Women in Agriculture (YWA). A national mobilisation campaign targeting 12 million young women in agriculture (read more). Food security is a pressing national priority: the Cadre Harmonisé analysis projected that about 34.7 million Nigerians would face food insecurity in the June to August 2026 lean season.
The VOICE Initiative. UNESCO REF’s professional advancement programme for women with disabilities, launched on 1 October 2026 with the Osun State Government as first pilot state. Dr Shaibu will lead its national upscaling to 120,000 women across the six geopolitical zones and its extension across Africa (read more).

The contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals is direct. The deeper contribution is the trust of a nation’s military families, now extended into the architecture of its development future.

Global alignment

Alignement mondial

Framework	Provision	How the appointment responds
SDG 1, No Poverty	Target 1.4: equal rights to economic resources for the poor and vulnerable	Extends SIP-ALPHA into military communities and garrison towns
SDG 2, Zero Hunger	Target 2.3: double the productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular women	Leads the Young Women in Agriculture campaign for 12 million women
SDG 4, Quality Education	Targets 4.1 and 4.4: quality schooling and relevant skills for youth	Builds on NAOWA schools, teacher training and youth skills programmes
SDG 5, Gender Equality	Target 5.5: women’s full participation and leadership	Places women’s leadership at the head of national programme delivery
SDG 8, Decent Work	Target 8.6: reduce youth not in employment, education or training	Youth advancement and skills acquisition across the Federation
SDG 17, Partnerships	Target 17.17: effective public and civil society partnerships	A covenant between UNESCO REF and NAOWA
UN Security Council Resolution 1325	Women, Peace and Security: women’s role in peacebuilding and community resilience	Mobilises the wives and families of the military as agents of development and stability
African Union Agenda 2063	Aspiration 6: development driven by the potential of African women and youth	Cited by Dr Shaibu in her letter of acceptance
Maputo Protocol	Article 15: right to food security; Article 13: economic and social welfare rights	Women-led food security and economic empowerment
Renewed Hope Agenda, Federal Government of Nigeria	Food security, human capital and inclusive growth	Delivery through all 774 local government areas

ENDS

Notes to editors

Notes aux rédactions

About SIP-ALPHA. The Strategic Intervention Programmes for Accelerated Learning and Productive Human Asset (SIP-ALPHA) is UNESCO REF’s integrated development framework, delivering education, agriculture, health resilience, youth empowerment and community development programmes in alignment with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

About NAOWA. The Nigerian Army Officers’ Wives Association is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation founded in the 1950s and constituted under its present name in 1963. It operates schools, community health centres, skills acquisition centres and welfare programmes for military families and host communities across Nigeria.

Media enquiries. UNESCO REF Media Centre, [email protected], +234 (0) 916 4212 902, www.unesco-ref.org

Ref: UNESCO REF/MEDIA/2026/NAOWA SIP ALPHA AMB 01

Sources

UNESCO REF Media Centre | Special Report | Lead Investigation

The Needful Now: How Nigeria Built a Covenant Between Its Badge and Its Youth

From the streets of August 2024 to the halls of Louis Edet House: an investigation into how a country under strain chose dialogue over confrontation, and how the UNESCO REF Nigeria Police Youths Summit turned public anger into a structured partnership between Nigeria’s security institutions and its young citizens.

UNESCO REF Media Centre | The Dispatch, Lead Investigation Series | Abuja, Nigeria | 12 August 2024, revised July 2026

Special Report. This is a summary of the Lead Investigation. Read the complete report, Annex A of the UNESCO REF Special Reports.

ABUJA, Nigeria. In the space of fourteen months, Nigeria passed from economic shock to street protest to something few had predicted: a national conversation between its police and its young people. This report examines the civic demands that were raised, the institutional responses that followed and the accountability framework now required to honour what was promised. It traces the sequence of events that culminated on 12 August 2024, International Youth Day, in the UNESCO REF Nigeria Police Youths Summit.

“The UNESCO REF Nigeria Police Youths Summit is not merely an event, but a national platform for reconciliation and partnership, a covenant between the Police and our youth to build trust, respect, and shared responsibility.”

Prince Abdulsalami Ladigbolu-Oranmiyan, President, UNESCO REF, Louis Edet House, Abuja

I. Three words at Eagle Square

I. Trois mots sur Eagle Square

The story begins on the morning of 29 May 2023, at Eagle Square, Abuja. In his inaugural address, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced the end of the petrol subsidy in three words: “Subsidy is gone.” Within days, pump prices multiplied, and the subsequent floating of the naira added a currency shock to a fuel shock.

For millions of households, the effect was immediate: higher transport fares, higher food prices and shrinking incomes. Young Nigerians, facing rising costs for data, transport and starting a business, felt the pressure most acutely.

II. The spiral

II. La spirale

Over the months that followed, inflation climbed above 33 per cent, with food prices rising faster still. The Special Report records fourteen months of sustained pressure on households, in which the frustrations of the young accumulated without a channel through which they could be heard by the institutions of the State.

III. An answer in the fields

III. Une réponse dans les champs

Even before the streets erupted, UNESCO REF was advancing a structural response. In May and June 2024, Prince Abdulsalami Ladigbolu-Oranmiyan and Dr Mrs Elizabeth Egbetokun, National Advocate of the Young Women in Agriculture programme and National President of the Police Officers’ Wives Association, undertook an advocacy tour of the South West, presenting the agricultural value chain as a durable path to livelihoods for young Nigerians.

“The agricultural value chain is not a fallback. It is the structural answer to a structural problem.”

Prince Abdulsalami Ladigbolu-Oranmiyan, June 2024

IV. Ten days in August

IV. Dix jours d’août

On 1 August 2024, young Nigerians took to the streets under the banner #EndBadGovernance. For ten days, protests unfolded in cities across the Federation, from Lagos and Abuja to Kano, Kaduna, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Ibadan, Owerri and Benin City. The Special Report records loss of life, citing Amnesty International, and heavy economic losses at the height of the unrest.

The Honourable Minister of Police Affairs, Senator Ibrahim Gaidam, acknowledged that the protests carried genuine grievances, even as some sought to exploit them. The question before the nation was whether those grievances would be met with force alone, or with a hearing.

V. A conversation at Louis Edet House

V. Une conversation à Louis Edet House

The answer began with an unscheduled conversation. While the protests were still under way, the President of UNESCO REF paid a working visit to Louis Edet House, the headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force on Shehu Shagari Way, Abuja, where he met the Force Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi. From that meeting came an agreement to convene a national summit of youth and police on 12 August 2024, International Youth Day.

“We are not here today because of the protests of August.”

Muyiwa Adejobi, Force Public Relations Officer

The remark captured an important truth: the protests had made the need visible, but the need itself was long-standing. The full substance of the Louis Edet House conversation has not been published.

VI. The Summit

VI. Le Sommet

Element	Detail
Date	12 August 2024, United Nations International Youth Day
Venue	Nigeria Police Force Resource Centre, Abuja
Convenors	UNESCO REF and the Nigeria Police Force
Delegates	More than 400, from all 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory
Principal participants	Inspector-General of Police, Dr Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, PhD, NPM; Dr Jamila Bio Ibrahim, Minister of Youth Development, representing President Tinubu; Senator Ibrahim Gaidam, Minister of Police Affairs; Professor Olanrewaju Fagbohun, SAN, guest keynote
Format	Addresses, an open dialogue with the Inspector-General and thematic breakout sessions

The gathering opened with performances by members of the National Youth Service Corps and continued through a full day of engagement.

VII. On the record

VII. Les déclarations officielles

“The Nigeria Police Force is fully committed to protecting the rights and welfare of our youths.”

Dr Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, Inspector-General of Police

“There is a trust gap between the security agencies and the youth.”

Senator Ibrahim Gaidam, Minister of Police Affairs

“Trust is not announced. It is demonstrated. Over time.”

Professor Olanrewaju Fagbohun, SAN

“This summit is not a courtesy gathering.”

Dr Jamila Bio Ibrahim, Minister of Youth Development

Delivering the message of President Tinubu, Dr Ibrahim set out commitments under the youth pillar of the Renewed Hope Agenda: NYSC enterprise funding of up to N10 million per beneficiary, support for 5,000 graduate ventures, the National Youth Skills Programme, a commitment to 30 per cent youth inclusion and a planned Young Leaders Institute.

VIII. The dialogue

VIII. Le dialogue

The most consequential hour of the day was unscripted. Delegates questioned the Inspector-General directly. A delegate from Lagos asked about the policing of protests; the Inspector-General replied that the role of the police is to manage protests, not to prevent them. A delegate from Abuja raised misconduct; he acknowledged it and said his administration was removing corrupt officers. Halimat Chagua, a delegate from the North East, asked about the security of farmers; he pointed to dedicated farm patrols during planting and harvest seasons.

Not every delegate left satisfied, and the Special Report says so. But the exchange itself, conducted in public between the head of the Force and the young people it serves, marked a departure. Breakout sessions on crime prevention, conflict resolution, social media engagement and community policing turned the exchange into proposals.

IX. The Abuja Communique and the accountability framework

IX. Le Communiqué d’Abuja et le cadre de redevabilité

The Summit closed with Abuja Communique No. 01 and five recommendations. The Special Report sets out the framework against which their implementation should be judged:

Recommendation	What implementation looks like
1. Youth advisory councils	Councils at federal, State and local levels with real influence on security policy, beginning with State pilots
2. Secure intelligence networks	Technology-enabled channels for community intelligence, with anonymity, encryption and due process
3. Trust through transparency	Independent oversight, accessible complaint procedures and public reporting
4. Economic empowerment as security	Skills, jobs and enterprise support in high-risk communities
5. Continuous dialogue	Quarterly national convenings and regular regional dialogues

“Security in Nigeria is not achieved by force alone.”

Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, National Security Adviser

“Every generation of Nigerian youth has been asked to wait.”

Ibrahim Danladi, delegate, Borno State

Why it matters

Les enjeux

The relationship between young people and the institutions charged with their security is a question of national stability. A 2023 study by the United Nations Development Programme found that about a quarter of voluntary recruits to violent extremist groups in sub-Saharan Africa cited job opportunities as their main reason for joining. Trust, inclusion and economic opportunity for the young are therefore central to security policy, not peripheral to it.

That is the covenant the title of this report describes: an undertaking by the badge to listen and to answer, and by the youth to engage and to build. Its value will be measured not by the day on which it was made, but by the years in which it is kept.

Read the full investigation

Lire l’enquête complète

This summary draws on the Lead Investigation published by the UNESCO REF Media Centre. Readers are warmly invited to read the complete account, with its chronology, data and full record of the dialogue:

The Special Report. The Needful Now, Annex A, UNESCO REF Special Reports.
The Report of Events. UNESCO REF Nigeria Police Youths Summit.

Global alignment

Alignement mondial

Framework	Provision	How the Summit responds
SDG 16, Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions (primary)	Target 16.6: accountable institutions; Target 16.7: inclusive, participatory decision-making	Youth advisory councils, independent oversight and public reporting
UN Security Council Resolution 2250 (2015)	Youth, Peace and Security: participation, protection, prevention, partnerships	Young people treated as partners in national security
UN Security Council Resolution 2419 (2018)	Role of youth in negotiating and implementing peace	Youth voice built into a standing dialogue mechanism
SDG 8, Decent Work	Target 8.6: youth not in employment, education or training	Economic empowerment treated as a security strategy
SDG 17, Partnerships	Target 17.17: public and civil society partnerships	A partnership between the Nigeria Police Force and UNESCO REF
African Youth Charter	Youth participation in decision-making	Structured dialogue between youth and the Force
African Union Agenda 2063	Aspiration 6: development driven by the potential of African youth	Youth at the centre of the national security conversation
United Nations International Youth Day	Annual observance on 12 August	Summit convened on International Youth Day 2024

Read the Special Report. The complete investigation is available at the UNESCO REF Media Centre: unesco-ref.org/special-reports.

ENDS

Notes to editors

Notes aux rédactions

About the Special Reports. The UNESCO REF Special Reports are in-depth investigations published by the UNESCO REF Media Centre. “The Needful Now” is Annex A of the series, in the National Security strand of the Lead Investigation Series. Coordination: Ibrahim Danladi. Media and Outreach: Ms Bupwatda.

Media enquiries. UNESCO REF Media Centre, [email protected]

Sources

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