Official report of the UNESCO REF Nigeria Police Youths Summit, Abuja, 12 August 2024: President Tinubu represented, IGP Egbetokun, 400+ youths, Channels TV broadcast, five recommendations and two papers on youth and national security.
Special Report Menu Home The Presidency Addresses Papers Watch the Summit Special Report Media Centre As broadcast live Channels Television Watch the full Summit Report of Activities · UN International Youth Day 2024 UNESCO REF Nigeria Police Youths Summit The Covenant of Trust: Youth, Legitimacy and the Future of National Security in Nigeria Le pacte de confiance : la jeunesse, la légitimité et l'avenir de la sécurité nationale au Nigeria The report of activities of the UNESCO REF Nigeria Police Youths Summit, convened jointly by UNESCO REF and the Nigeria Police Force on 12 August 2024 at the NPF Resource Centre, Jabi, Abuja, to mark the United Nations International Youth Day. Held eleven days after the #EndBadGovernance protests began, the Summit brought the Inspector-General of Police, the Honourable Minister of Police Affairs and the Presidency, represented by the Honourable Minister of Youth Development, into structured dialogue with more than four hundred young delegates from every state of the federation. Two scholarly papers of UNESCO REF accompany the record. Theme of the Summit Enhancing the Nigerian Youth's Value for National Security Intelligence Read the report Read the two papers Special Report: The Needful Now ▶ Watch the broadcast UNESCO REF Nigeria Police Youths Summit, NPF Resource Centre, Abuja, 12 August 2024. Delegates, officers of the Nigeria Police Force and principal guests in session on UN International Youth Day. Photograph: UNESCO REF Media Centre / Nigeria Police Force. 12 Aug 2024, UN International Youth Day, Abuja 400+ Youth delegates, officials and civil society leaders 36+1 States of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory 4 Pillars of a youth and security compact Document Report of activities Event UNESCO REF Nigeria Police Youths Summit Venue NPF Resource Centre, Jabi, Abuja Convened by UNESCO REF and the Nigeria Police Force Broadcast Live on Channels Television, watch now Special Report The Needful Now: Nigeria's Youth, Security, and the Covenant of August 2024. The full lead investigation behind this Summit. Read the investigation → I The Presidency ▶ Broadcast II The record § Summary III Delegates IV The addresses V Proceedings VI Four pillars VII The dialogue VIII Recommendations IX Context X Two papers XI Questions I · The Presidency The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria honoured the invitation Le Président de la République fédérale du Nigeria a honoré l'invitation 12 VIII 2024 In the name of the Office of the President His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Represented at the Summit by Dr Jamila Bio Ibrahim , Honourable Minister of Youth Development, who delivered the address of the President at the close of proceedings The address of the President · 17:00 A message from the highest office in the land to the young people of Nigeria Un message de la plus haute fonction de l'État à la jeunesse du Nigeria The presence of the Presidency gave the Summit its standing. Eleven days after protests in which young Nigerians had called on the government to hear them, the President sent to a hall of more than four hundred young delegates the Minister charged with their development, to speak in his name. The message was carried by its setting as much as by its words: the grievances of the young had been heard at the highest level of the state, and the answer to them would be sought in dialogue, in opportunity and in partnership with the institutions that keep the nation safe. Delivering the address on behalf of the President, Dr Jamila Bio Ibrahim affirmed the place of young Nigerians at the centre of the Renewed Hope Agenda and set out the youth empowerment programme of the administration, as recorded by the UNESCO REF Media Centre. She called on young people to work with government in building a nation that is not only prosperous but secure and just, and to bring the energy that had filled the streets into the institutions where policy is made. ₦10m NYSC enterprise fund Venture funding of up to ten million naira per beneficiary, reorienting the service year toward enterprise. 5,000 Corps ventures Enterprises of young graduates earmarked for support under the scheme. 30% Youth in governance The commitment of the Federal Executive Council to the inclusion of young people in appointments. NYSP Skills and leadership The National Youth Skills Programme and a planned Young Leaders Institute. Recognition La reconnaissance By sending its message to a youth and security summit, the Presidency recognised young Nigerians as partners in the security of the nation and not as its adversaries. Responsiveness La réactivité By speaking within days of the protests, the Presidency signalled that the answer to grievance would be dialogue, and that dialogue would have a seat at the highest table. Responsibility La responsabilité By setting out undertakings in public, the Presidency gave young Nigerians a standard against which the government's commitments can be followed and, in time, measured. The undertakings above belong to the Federal Government and are reported as presented on the day. Their value to the security of the nation, as the papers accompanying this report argue, will depend less on their scale than on whether young people experience them as fair, reachable and lasting. On air · Channels Television Watch the Summit as the nation saw it Revivez le sommet tel que la nation l'a vu The UNESCO REF Nigeria Police Youths Summit was broadcast live across Nigeria by Channels Television on 12 August 2024. The full broadcast, published by Channels Television under the title "Nigerian Police Summit 2024: Enhancing The Nigerian Youth's Value For National Security Intelligence", records the addresses, the dialogue with the Inspector-General and the proceedings of the day. Nigerian Police Summit 2024 Enhancing the Nigerian Youth's Value for National Security Intelligence Channels Television · 12 August 2024 · Abuja Broadcaster Channels Television Date 12 August 2024 Venue NPF Resource Centre, Abuja Also reported by VOA, Arise TV, Leadership, NAN, The Guardian Watch on YouTube II · The record of 12 August 2024 A summit convened in the hour of need Un sommet convoqué à l'heure où il le fallait On 12 August 2024 the Resource Centre of the Nigeria Police Force at Jabi, Abuja, received a gathering without precedent in the relations between the Nigerian state and its young citizens. The UNESCO REF Nigeria Police Youths Summit, convened jointly by UNESCO REF and the Nigeria Police Force to mark the United Nations International Youth Day, placed the Inspector-General of Police, the Honourable Minister of Police Affairs and the representative of the President of the Federal Republic in one hall with more than four hundred young delegates drawn from all thirty-six states and the Federal Capital Territory. The timing defined the occasion. Eleven days earlier, on 1 August 2024, young Nigerians had taken to the streets in the #EndBadGovernance protests, the ten days that came to be described as the "Ten Days of Rage". The demonstrations followed fourteen months of economic pressure after the removal of the petrol subsidy in May 2023. They ended in loss of life, in arrests and in a hardening of suspicion between young people and the institutions charged with their security. To convene a summit of youth and police in that hour was to choose dialogue over distance when distance would have been easier. The theme of the day, Enhancing the Nigerian Youth's Value for National Security Intelligence, stated the Summit's central proposition. National security is not something done to young people or done for them; it is something that cannot be done without them. Their knowledge of place, their networks and their fluency with the instruments of modern communication are national assets. Whether those assets serve the security of the nation depends on whether the institutions of the state earn the trust that allows them to be shared. This document is the report of activities of that day. It records who spoke and what was said, the order of proceedings, the questions put by young delegates to the Inspector-General and the answers he gave, the four pillars around which the Summit organised its work, and the five recommendations it produced. It closes with the national context in which the Summit was convened. Two scholarly papers of UNESCO REF accompany the record. The first examines the value of the young as a demographic, historical and economic fact; the second examines trust as the condition on which that value becomes security intelligence. Occasion United Nations International Youth Day 2024 Date Monday, 12 August 2024 Venue Nigeria Police Force Resource Centre, Jabi, Abuja Theme Enhancing the Nigerian Youth's Value for National Security Intelligence Convened by UNESCO REF and the Nigeria Police Force The Presidency Represented by Dr Jamila Bio Ibrahim, Honourable Minister of Youth Development, on behalf of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR Host IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, Ph.D., NPM, Inspector-General of Police Delegates More than 400, from all 36 states and the FCT Coverage Broadcast live on Channels Television; reported by VOA, Arise TV, TheCable, Leadership and Pulse Nigeria, among other outlets Summary of activities The day in summary Résumé des activités de la journée The activities of the Summit are summarised below in the order in which they took place. Each is reported in full in the section indicated. Time Activity Led by Result recorded Section 09:00 Opening ceremony and cultural performance Corps members of the National Youth Service Corps Traditional dances of four cultural regions presented as an affirmation of unity in diversity V 10:00 Keynote address Inspector-General of Police Young people framed as partners in national security rather than as potential threats IV 11:00 Address of the convening institution President, UNESCO REF Young people framed as change agents bridging technology, communication and community IV 12:00 Ministerial address Honourable Minister of Police Affairs Summit linked to the Renewed Hope Agenda and to a culture of constructive dialogue IV In session Keynote of the oversight institution Chairman, Police Service Commission The Summit charged to recommend better ways to anticipate emerging issues IV 14:00 Guest keynote on trust and accountability Professor Olanrewaju Fagbohun, SAN The trust gap between security agencies and youth named and frameworks of accountability proposed IV 15:00 Youth question and answer session Youth delegates and the Inspector-General Four questions on protest policing, misconduct, the NLC operation and the protection of farmers answered on the record VII 16:00 Interactive thematic sessions Delegates in four breakout groups Proposals developed under the four pillars of the Summit VI 17:00 Presidential address and close Minister of Youth Development, on behalf of the President The youth agenda of the Federal Government set out; the Summit formally closed I After the Summit Adoption of recommendations The convening institutions Five strategic recommendations recorded for implementation VIII III · Distinguished delegates A convergence of the institutions of state and the voices of youth Une convergence des institutions de l'État et des voix de la jeunesse The Summit brought together the principal officers responsible for internal security, the Presidency, the national youth service, the academy and the representatives of the security services and paramilitary organisations. Each office brought a distinct competence: command, policy, youth development, law and the convening architecture of SIP-ALPHA. Dr Jamila Bio Ibrahim Honourable Minister of Youth Development, representing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR Delivered the address of the President and set out the youth empowerment agenda of the Federal Government. IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun Ph.D., NPM, Inspector-General of Police, Nigeria Police Force Host of the Summit. Delivered the keynote and answered the questions of youth delegates on the record. Senator Ibrahim Gaidam Honourable Minister of Police Affairs Placed the Summit within the Renewed Hope Agenda and called for a culture of constructive dialogue. Prince Abdulsalami Ladigbolu-Oranmiyan President, UNESCO REF Co-convener of the Summit. Framed young Nigerians as change agents in national security. Professor Olanrewaju Fagbohun, SAN Former Vice-Chancellor, Lagos State University Guest keynote on trust and accountability between the security agencies and young people. DCP Olumuyiwa Adejobi Force Public Relations Officer, Nigeria Police Force Led the preparations of the Force with UNESCO REF in the days before the Summit. The Chairman of the Police Service Commission, DIG Hashimu Argungu (rtd.), the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Police Affairs, and representatives of the service chiefs and paramilitary organisations were also in attendance. The convergence is itself a finding of the day. Security policy in Nigeria is made across many offices; a dialogue with young people that engages only one of them will reach only part of the problem. IV · The addresses of the day The official record of the leadership addresses Le compte rendu officiel des allocutions des dirigeants Five principal addresses were delivered in the course of the Summit, in addition to the address of the President recorded in Section I. Read together, they form a single argument developed from five positions. The Inspector-General spoke from command, the President of UNESCO REF from the vision of the convening institution, the Minister of Police Affairs from policy, the Chairman of the Police Service Commission from oversight, and the guest keynote from law and scholarship. Each arrived at the same conclusion: young Nigerians are partners in the security of the nation, and partnership requires trust. Each address is recorded below in full outline: the setting in which it was delivered, the argument it made, its principal statements and the commitments it placed on the record. Direct quotations are those reported by the UNESCO REF Media Centre and by the national and international press; the remainder is a faithful account of the substance of each address. IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun Ph.D., NPM Inspector-General of Police, Nigeria Police Force Address Keynote of the host institution Delivered 10:00 Position Command 01 · The host A Force committed to the rights, welfare and partnership of the young Une police engagée envers les droits, le bien-être et le partenariat des jeunes This day underscores the importance of empowering youths, amplifying their voices, and ensuring that their contributions are acknowledged and nurtured. The Inspector-General opened the substantive proceedings as host. He described International Youth Day as more than a celebration: a reminder of the vital role that young people play in their societies and in the wider world, and of the obligation of institutions to empower them. He described the Summit itself as a celebration of the ability of young Nigerians to drive positive change, and the theme of the day as a statement that the strength and future of the nation rest on its youth. He placed young people at the centre of three national tasks: driving social change, redesigning the national security architecture and advancing sustainable development. The Nigeria Police Force, he said, would continue to harness the energy, creativity and idealism of young people to build a safer, more secure and more prosperous Nigeria, and was committed to creating a secure environment that would empower them. Young Nigerians, in his account, are indispensable partners in national security and development, and the Force sought to support them as leaders of change. He described the Summit as a platform for dialogue, education and collaboration between the police and the nation's youth, designed to bridge gaps, build trust and enable both to work together on the security of the country, and he expressed confidence that the ideas generated would strengthen national security intelligence. He closed with a charge to all present. Let us remain steadfast in our commitment to our youths. Together we must pledge to support, empower and create a brighter future for all. On the record A pledge to protect the rights of young Nigerians, promote their welfare and create opportunities for their growth and development. Recognition of young people as indispensable partners, not threats, in national security. The Summit established as a platform for dialogue, education and collaboration between the police and youth. In the dialogue that followed, the commencement of dedicated farm patrols and the removal of errant officers (Section VII). Prince Abdulsalami Ladigbolu-Oranmiyan President, UNESCO REF Co-convener of the Summit Address Address of the convening institution Delivered 11:00 Position Vision 02 · The convening institution Young Nigerians as change agents and a national strength Les jeunes Nigérians, acteurs du changement et force nationale Our focus today is on youths recognising themselves as change agents. It is imperative that our young people understand their potential to influence and drive positive change. The President of UNESCO REF addressed the Summit as co-convener. The address came out of the work that had brought UNESCO REF to the hall: an advocacy tour of the South-West completed two months before the protests, in which young Nigerians had spoken of the pressure of the economic transition, and a working visit to the Force Headquarters at Louis Edet House during the protests themselves, at which the convening of the Summit was concluded with the Force. The Summit was the result of a shared choice to answer a moment of strain with an open hall. His central argument concerned how young people see themselves. Nigeria's youth, he said, are a valuable national asset, and the first step in realising that value is for young people to recognise their own capacity to influence events and to drive positive change. He located that capacity in what young Nigerians already possess. Their familiarity with technology, social media and contemporary communication tools, he argued, places them in a position to strengthen community policing, to contribute to intelligence gathering and to support the response to crises, bridging the gap between the security institutions and the communities they serve. The argument belongs to the Strategic Implementation Platform of UNESCO REF, SIP-ALPHA, whose youth pillar holds that Nigeria's challenge is not a lack of skills but a large and capable generation whose talents are under-used, and that the task of national policy is to direct that generation into every sector of national life, security included. UNESCO REF has since carried the work of the day beyond the hall, through its continued partnership with the Nigeria Police Force and through the scholarship published with this report. On the record Young Nigerians framed as change agents and as a national asset, not as a risk to be managed. Technology and social media identified as the specific contribution of the young to community policing, intelligence gathering and crisis response. The vision of the address grounded in the youth pillar of SIP-ALPHA. Partnership with the Force continued after the Summit, including through this report and its two papers. Senator Ibrahim Gaidam Honourable Minister of Police Affairs Address read by Mr James Sule, Permanent Secretary Official photograph: Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation Address Ministerial address Delivered 12:00 Position Policy 03 · The Ministry of Police Affairs Youth engagement in national security is not optional L'engagement des jeunes dans la sécurité nationale n'est pas facultatif Youth engagement in matters of national security is not just beneficial; it is imperative. The address of the Minister of Police Affairs, read on his behalf by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mr James Sule, set the Summit within the policy of the Federal Government. The Minister observed that the country had recently witnessed a surge in the civic engagement of young people, and that such engagement carries responsibilities as well as rights. He thanked young Nigerians who had heeded the call of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to suspend the protests and accept dialogue, and he extended the condolences of the government to the families of young people who had lost their lives. He acknowledged that the government had heard those who protested peacefully, while condemning the looting and destruction of public and private property by those who had exploited the protests. The Renewed Hope Agenda, he said, envisages young people not merely as participants but as leaders in national security and development, and he called for a culture of constructive dialogue in which grievance is expressed through discussion rather than destructive action. The Minister set out the measures by which the government intended to cushion the effects of its economic reforms on young people and their families: the operation of the student loan scheme to widen access to higher education, the approval of a new national minimum wage, the suspension of tariffs on essential food items and medicines, and support for local refining through the sale of crude oil to indigenous refineries in naira. He described the police reform under way as building toward an integrated model of policing with a focus on rural communities, in support of food production and the development of solid minerals, and he pledged that the Ministry of Police Affairs would work with the Ministry of Youth Development in support of the aspirations of young Nigerians. On the record Youth engagement in national security declared imperative. Condolences of the government to the families of young people who died during the protests. Measures to cushion the effects of reform: student loans, the new minimum wage, the suspension of tariffs on essential food and medicines, and naira sales of crude oil to local refineries. A reform toward integrated, rural-focused policing, and a partnership between the Ministries of Police Affairs and Youth Development. DIG Hashimu Argungu (rtd.) Chairman, Police Service Commission Address Keynote on behalf of the oversight institution Position Oversight 04 · The oversight institution Anticipating the issues before they become crises Anticiper les enjeux avant qu'ils ne deviennent des crises The Chairman of the Police Service Commission, the constitutional body responsible for the appointment, promotion and discipline of officers of the Nigeria Police Force below the rank of Inspector-General, also addressed the Summit. His presence brought to the hall the institution through which the conduct of officers is ultimately held to account, a point of direct relevance to the questions on misconduct that delegates later put to the Inspector-General. The Chairman asked the Summit to look ahead. Its value, he said, would lie in suggesting and recommending better ways for the nation to anticipate emerging issues, so that the security institutions are not always responding to events after they have occurred. He urged participants to think more innovatively about policies and interventions, so that the state could act quickly and appropriately when tensions begin to rise. The charge anticipated the Summit's own recommendations on early warning, continuous dialogue and adaptive partnership. On the record The Summit charged with recommending better ways to anticipate emerging issues. A call for innovative policy and intervention capable of rapid and proportionate action. The presence of the constitutional body for police discipline at a dialogue on trust and accountability. Professor Olanrewaju Fagbohun, SAN Professor of Environmental Law; former Vice-Chancellor, Lagos State University Co-founder, RouQ and Company Address Guest keynote on trust and accountability Delivered 14:00 Position Law and scholarship 05 · The guest keynote Naming the trust gap, and the frameworks to close it Nommer le déficit de confiance et les cadres pour le combler There is a trust gap between the security agencies and the youth. The guest keynote gave the Summit its most exact diagnosis. Professor Fagbohun, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and former Vice-Chancellor of Lagos State University, began from a plain statement of the problem: a gap of trust separates the security agencies of Nigeria from the nation's young people, and no partnership between them can succeed until that gap is acknowledged and addressed. He then drew the distinction on which a fair reading of August 2024 depends. When the protests took place, he said, two forces were at work: those with genuine grievances, who wanted the nation to listen, and those with other motives, who sought to exploit the situation. To treat the two as one, he argued, would wrong the many who protested in good faith and obscure the few who did not. The distinction is the reason dialogue of the kind the Summit offered matters: it allows the state to hear genuine grievance as grievance, and to respond to it as such. From that diagnosis the keynote proceeded to remedy. Professor Fagbohun proposed that trust between the security agencies and young people must be built through frameworks of accountability and transparency: clear standards of conduct, accessible means of complaint and visible consequences when standards are breached. Trust, on this account, is not requested from young people; it is earned by institutions, through conduct that young people can see. The analysis set the frame that both the dialogue of the afternoon and the recommendations of the Summit followed, and it is developed at length in Paper No. 2. On the record The trust gap between the security agencies and young people named publicly as the central problem. A distinction between those with genuine grievances and those who exploited the protests. Frameworks of accountability and transparency proposed as the means of closing the gap. Reading the addresses together Lecture d'ensemble des allocutions A shared premise Every address treated young people as partners in national security. None treated them as a problem to be contained. That consensus, stated in public by command, policy, oversight and scholarship, is itself a finding of the day. A shared condition Every address, in its own terms, made partnership conditional on trust: the Inspector-General through rights and welfare, the Minister through dialogue, the Commission through anticipation, the keynote through accountability. A shared test The addresses created a public record against which the institutions that spoke can be measured. The recommendations in Section VIII translate that record into actions that can be followed and verified. V · Order of proceedings One day, carefully ordered for honest dialogue Une journée ordonnée avec soin pour un dialogue sincère 09:00 Opening ceremony and NYSC performance A cultural presentation by corps members of the National Youth Service Corps, setting a tone of unity and collaboration. 10:00 · Keynote The Inspector-General of Police A vision for partnership between the Force and young Nigerians. 11:00 · Convening address The President of UNESCO REF Young people as change agents in national security. 12:00 · Ministerial address The Honourable Minister of Police Affairs The Renewed Hope Agenda and a culture of constructive dialogue. 14:00 · Guest keynote On trust and accountability Professor Olanrewaju Fagbohun, SAN, on the trust gap and frameworks of accountability. 15:00 Youth question and answer session Delegates put direct questions to the Inspector-General. 16:00 Interactive thematic sessions Breakout groups under the four pillars of the Summit. 17:00 · Close Presidential address and close of the Summit The address of the President, delivered by the Honourable Minister of Youth Development. The opening: unity in diversity L'ouverture : l'unité dans la diversité The Summit opened with a performance by corps members of the National Youth Service Corps. In their khaki, the corps members presented the traditional dances of four of Nigeria's cultural regions, an affirmation before any word was spoken that the young people of the federation share one country. The choice was apt. The National Youth Service Corps was established in 1973, in the aftermath of the civil war, precisely to promote national unity and integration among young graduates. Its presence at the opening of a summit on youth and security joined the oldest national instrument of youth integration to one of the newest forms of youth engagement with the state. Ekombi South-South A flowing dance of the Efik and coastal peoples, representing the heritage of the Niger Delta and the Cross River basin. Bàtá South-West A ceremonial dance of the Yoruba, performed to the drum of the same name. Swange North Central A dance of the Tiv people of the Middle Belt, a celebration of community and harvest. Royal court dances Northern Nigeria Dignified courtly forms representing the emirate traditions of the north. VI · The four pillars Four pillars of a youth and security compact Quatre piliers d'un pacte entre la jeunesse et la sécurité The interactive sessions of the afternoon were organised around four pillars. Each describes a domain in which the knowledge and capacity of young people can strengthen security, and each depends on the trust that the others help to build. I Crime prevention La prévention de la criminalité Proactive, community-based interventions and early warning systems that draw on youth networks and local knowledge, so that threats are identified before they become incidents. II Conflict resolution La résolution des conflits Youth-led mediation and de-escalation that use the influence of peers to secure peaceful outcomes in disputes within and between communities. III Social media engagement L'engagement sur les réseaux sociaux Digital literacy, early detection of incitement and the countering of misinformation, built on the technological fluency of the young and on respect for lawful expression. IV Community policing La police de proximité Grassroots partnerships between young people and the police that make security responsive to the communities it serves and accountable to them. The pillars are not separate programmes. Crime prevention depends on information that young people will share only with an institution they trust; conflict resolution depends on peers whose standing is not compromised by association with coercion; social media engagement depends on a clear line between countering incitement and policing opinion; and community policing is the institutional form in which all three can be sustained. Paper No. 2 examines each of these dependencies against the evidence. VII · The dialogue The questions that mattered, and the answers on the record Les questions essentielles et les réponses consignées The question and answer session was among the most revealing hours of the Summit. Youth delegates put direct and difficult questions to the Inspector-General of Police, and he answered them in public. The exchanges are recorded below as they were reported on the day. Their importance lies less in any single answer than in the fact of the exchange: a young citizen asking the head of the Force to account for its conduct, and receiving an answer, is itself an act of accountability. The panel in session. Youth delegates put questions to the Inspector-General of Police, 12 August 2024. Photograph: UNESCO REF Media Centre. Lagos delegate The policing of the August protests The question A delegate from Lagos asked the Inspector-General to explain the approach of the Force to the protests, citing concern over the use of force and the constitutional right to peaceful assembly. The response The Inspector-General stated that the role of the police is not to prevent protest but to manage it. He said intelligence had indicated that some actors intended to exploit the protests for destabilisation, and declined to disclose the details of ongoing investigations. Abuja delegate Misconduct within the Force The question A delegate from Abuja asked what the Inspector-General was doing about officers whose misconduct undermines public trust in the Force as a whole. The response The Inspector-General acknowledged that misconduct is found across Nigerian institutions and not in policing alone, observing that societies tend to get the police they deserve. He stated that his administration was removing errant officers, because responsible leadership demands accountability whatever the wider conditions. Labour sector representative The operation at the premises of the Nigeria Labour Congress The question A representative of the labour sector asked about the police operation at the premises of the Nigeria Labour Congress, which had drawn accusations of intimidation of civil society. The response The Inspector-General stated that the operation targeted a specific suspect traced by intelligence to a shop within the building, and not the leadership of the Congress, and described it as intelligence-led rather than political. Halimat Chagua · North-East delegate The protection of Nigeria's farmers The question Halimat Chagua, a delegate from the North-East, asked what the Force was doing to protect farmers from bandits and insurgents. The response The Inspector-General announced that the Force had begun dedicated farm patrols to give farmers the confidence to work their land, a visible and preventive presence through the planting and harvest seasons. A young citizen asking the head of the Force to account for its conduct, and receiving an answer in public, is itself an act of accountability. The dialogue of 12 August 2024 is recorded here not because every question was settled, but because each was asked and answered in the open. VIII · Strategic recommendations Five recommendations to turn partnership into practice Cinq recommandations pour traduire le partenariat en pratique The Summit adopted five recommendations to carry the partnership from concept to operation. Each is stated below, and each is examined against the evidence in the papers that accompany this report. An institutional architecture for youth engagement Une architecture institutionnelle pour l'engagement des jeunes Establish youth advisory councils at federal, state and local levels with real influence, and not merely consultative status, in security policy and operational planning. Begin with pilots in selected states, evaluate them rigorously and scale on the strength of demonstrated results. Technology-enabled channels for community information Des canaux numériques pour l'information communautaire Develop secure digital channels through which young people can report threats to their communities, with protection of anonymity, verification of information, safeguards of due process and compliance with the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023. Rebuilding trust through transparency Rétablir la confiance par la transparence Address the trust deficit through accountability: independent oversight of encounters between the police and young people, accessible complaint procedures and regular public reporting on operations affecting youth and their outcomes. Economic empowerment as security strategy L'autonomisation économique comme stratégie de sécurité Recognise that durable security requires attention to the economic conditions that frustrate young people, by integrating skills, employment and enterprise support for young people in communities at risk. Continuous dialogue and adaptive partnership Un dialogue continu et un partenariat adaptatif Institutionalise the Summit as a standing mechanism of dialogue, with national convenings and more frequent regional dialogues, so that security strategy can learn from the experience and perspectives of young people. IX · National context The backdrop: August 2024 and the case for partnership Le contexte : août 2024 et la raison d'être du partenariat The significance of the Summit cannot be read apart from the #EndBadGovernance protests that began on 1 August 2024. Led predominantly by young Nigerians, the demonstrations expressed deep anxiety over the cost of living in the fourteen months after the removal of the petrol subsidy, announced on 29 May 2023, and over a sense that the burden of reform was falling most heavily on those least able to carry it. The cost was grave. Amnesty International reported in November 2024 that at least twenty-four people were killed in the course of the protests and that more than one thousand two hundred were detained, among them minors. The economic cost to traders and small enterprises across the country was also considerable. Losses of this kind weigh on families and communities long after the streets are cleared, and they deepen the distance between young people and the institutions of the state. UNESCO REF had completed an advocacy tour of the South-West two months before the protests, and during the protests the President of UNESCO REF undertook a working visit to the Force Headquarters at Louis Edet House, where the preparations for the Summit were concluded with the Force Public Relations Officer. The Summit was the result: a deliberate turn away from reactive crisis management toward the patient work of building trust between the police and the nation's youth. Convening so soon after the protests, while the issues remained live, was a choice with risks. It was also a signal of institutional responsiveness, and it created a moment for dialogue that delay might have lost. The Summit's lasting value will be measured by what follows it: whether the recommendations of the day are carried into the institutions of policing, and whether young Nigerians come to experience the police as partners in their security. Subsidy removal Announced 29 May 2023 Protests began 1 August 2024, #EndBadGovernance Reported deaths At least 24 (Amnesty International, November 2024) Reported detentions More than 1,200, including minors (Amnesty International) Working visit President of UNESCO REF to Louis Edet House, Force Headquarters, during the protests Summit 12 August 2024, eleven days after the protests began Programme frame UNESCO REF SIP-ALPHA, youth pillar Primary SDGs 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions), 8 (decent work), 4 (education), 17 (partnerships) No security strategy in Nigeria can succeed without the cooperation, the knowledge and the active participation of young Nigerians. With young people forming the majority of the population, partnership between youth and the institutions of security is not a matter of preference. It is a condition of national stability. Further reading in the UNESCO REF Media Centre: the lead investigation, The Needful Now: Nigeria's Youth, Security, and the Covenant of August 2024 , and the report of the working visit of the President of UNESCO REF to the Nigeria Police Force .
What was the UNESCO REF Nigeria Police Youths Summit? It was a national summit convened jointly by UNESCO REF and the Nigeria Police Force on 12 August 2024, the United Nations International Youth Day, at the NPF Resource Centre, Jabi, Abuja. More than 400 youth delegates from all 36 states and the FCT met the Inspector-General of Police, the Honourable Minister of Police Affairs and the representative of the President under the theme Enhancing the Nigerian Youth's Value for National Security Intelligence. Did President Bola Ahmed Tinubu attend the Police Youths Summit? President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, honoured the invitation and was represented by Dr Jamila Bio Ibrahim, Honourable Minister of Youth Development, who delivered the address of the President at the close of the Summit and set out the youth empowerment agenda of the Federal Government. Where can I watch the Summit? The Summit was broadcast live by Channels Television. The full broadcast, titled Nigerian Police Summit 2024: Enhancing The Nigerian Youth's Value For National Security Intelligence, can be played on this page or on YouTube at youtu.be/Mw3Wl4R5bLg. What did the Inspector-General of Police say to young Nigerians? IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun pledged to protect the rights of young Nigerians, promote their welfare and create opportunities for their growth, described young people as indispensable partners in national security, and answered delegates' questions on protest policing, misconduct within the Force and the protection of farmers, announcing dedicated farm patrols. What did the Minister of Police Affairs say at the Summit? In an address read by the Permanent Secretary, Senator Ibrahim Gaidam declared that youth engagement in national security is imperative, called for a culture of constructive dialogue, extended condolences to families of young people who died in the protests, and set out measures including the student loan scheme, the new minimum wage and the suspension of tariffs on essential food and medicines. Why was the Summit held in August 2024? The Summit was convened eleven days after the #EndBadGovernance protests began on 1 August 2024. UNESCO REF and the Nigeria Police Force chose to answer a moment of mistrust with structured dialogue, and to mark the United Nations International Youth Day by placing young Nigerians and the leadership of the Force in the same hall as partners. What is the trust gap that Professor Fagbohun described? In the guest keynote, Professor Olanrewaju Fagbohun, SAN, said there is a trust gap between the security agencies and the youth, distinguished protesters with genuine grievances from those who exploited the protests, and proposed frameworks of accountability and transparency to close the gap. What are the four pillars of the Summit? Crime prevention, conflict resolution, social media engagement and community policing. Each describes a domain in which the knowledge and capacity of young people can strengthen security, and each depends on trust between young people and the police. What did the Summit recommend? Five recommendations: youth advisory councils with real influence; secure, data-protected digital channels for community information; rebuilding trust through independent oversight, accessible complaints and public reporting; economic empowerment as security strategy; and a standing mechanism of continuous dialogue between young people and the security institutions. What are the two UNESCO REF papers about? Paper No. 1, The value of the young, examines the demographic, historical, regional and economic evidence on Nigerian youth as a national security asset, including the experience of the Civilian Joint Task Force, and maps its argument to the Sustainable Development Goals. Paper No. 2, Trust as intelligence, examines police legitimacy, procedural justice, Nigeria's trust deficit and lessons from police reform in Northern Ireland, Colombia, Sierra Leone and Kenya, and sets out a theory of change for the youth and police compact aligned with SDG 16. How does the Summit relate to the UN Youth, Peace and Security agenda? The Summit was held on the United Nations International Youth Day and its pillars and recommendations correspond closely to the five pillars of UN Security Council resolution 2250: participation, protection, prevention, partnerships, and disengagement and reintegration. It is a national contribution to that agenda and to SDG 16. What is The Needful Now special report? The Needful Now: Nigeria's Youth, Security, and the Covenant of August 2024 is the lead investigation of the UNESCO REF Media Centre on the events that led to the Summit, from the removal of the petrol subsidy in May 2023 to the protests of August 2024. It is published in the UNESCO REF Special Reports. Is the Summit connected to SIP-ALPHA? Yes. The Summit was convened under the youth pillar of the UNESCO REF Strategic Implementation Platform, SIP-ALPHA, which holds that Nigeria's young population is a national strength to be directed into every sector, including national security. What is UNESCO REF? UNESCO REF, the Read and Earn Federation for UNESCO, is a multidimensional and multisectoral development institution established in 2009 under the UNESCO Provisions Framework in Nigeria, constituted through the National Commission for UNESCO under the authority of the 13th Session of the UNESCO General Conference, Paris, 1964. How can an institution partner with UNESCO REF on this work? Governments, security institutions, development partners, research partners and youth organisations may write to UNESCO REF at [email protected].
← Back to the report of activities UNESCO REF · Paper No. 1 · 2026 The value of the young La valeur de la jeunesse : démographie, histoire et capacité d'agir, la jeunesse nigériane comme atout de sécurité nationale Demography, history and agency: Nigerian youth as a national security asset. A structured review of the demographic, historical, economic, regional and policy evidence, and of the conditions under which the value of the young is realised Author UNESCO REF Series Police Youths Summit Papers, No. 1 Published 2026 Length Six pages, fifteen sections, eight tables, SDG alignment map Cover: Corps members of the National Youth Service Corps. Photograph: Afolabi Olanrewaju Taiwo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Contents Page 1 Abstract and key findings 1. Introduction 2. Who is young, and what is value Page 2 3. The demographic fact 4. Youth in the making of Nigeria Page 3 5. The deficit lens and its limits 6. From threat to asset: Youth, Peace and Security 7. What the young bring to security Page 4 8. Young people in Nigerian security practice 9. One country, six security landscapes Page 5 10. The value under-realised: work and waiting 11. What realising value requires 12. Risks of doing harm Page 6 13. SDG alignment map 14. Design principles and indicators 15. Limitations, research agenda and conclusion References Abstract The theme of the UNESCO REF Nigeria Police Youths Summit of 12 August 2024, Enhancing the Nigerian Youth's Value for National Security Intelligence, presupposes that young Nigerians possess a value for national security that is not yet fully realised. This paper examines that presupposition. It defines youth across the competing official definitions and sets out what "value" can mean in the context of security. It reviews the demographic evidence on Nigeria's young population and the conditions under which a young population becomes a dividend rather than a strain. It traces the role of young people in the making of modern Nigeria, from the Nigerian Youth Movement of the 1930s to the protests of 2020 and 2024. It examines the "deficit lens", the habit of seeing young people chiefly as a risk, against the evidence on youth and violence, which is far more qualified than the lens assumes, and presents the Youth, Peace and Security agenda of the United Nations as the principal alternative. It identifies five distinct contributions that young people make to security, and then tests the argument against Nigerian experience: the Civilian Joint Task Force in the North-East, the community and state security structures that have multiplied since 2015, the Presidential Amnesty Programme in the Niger Delta, and the very different security landscapes of the six geopolitical zones. It reviews the labour market evidence that explains why so much of the value of the young remains under-realised, sets out the conditions that realising it requires and the risks of doing harm, maps the argument to the Sustainable Development Goals, and closes with eight design principles and indicators. Keywords: youth, national security, demographic dividend, Nigeria, Youth Peace and Security, UNSCR 2250, Civilian Joint Task Force, vigilantism, Amnesty Programme, underemployment, agency, Sustainable Development Goals Key findings Nigeria's population is among the youngest in the world, with a median age of about eighteen years. Whether this becomes a dividend depends on productive employment, institutions and trust, not on numbers alone. Young Nigerians have been agents of national construction for nearly a century: in the nationalist movement, the national service, the return to democracy and civic movements for accountability. The evidence does not support the view that unemployment or youthfulness alone cause violence. Injustice, exclusion and abusive treatment by state actors are stronger and more consistent predictors. Nigerian experience already proves the security value of the young. The Civilian Joint Task Force, formed by young residents of Maiduguri in 2013, supplied the local knowledge that changed the course of the campaign against insurgency. Its record also shows the cost of mobilising young people without rules, oversight and a path out. Security conditions differ sharply across the six geopolitical zones. A single national model of youth engagement will fail; the role of young people must be designed zone by zone. Official unemployment is low under the revised measure of 2023 but informality is about 93 per cent. The problem is not idleness but under-realised value, consistent with the SIP-ALPHA thesis of a graduate workforce made irrelevant by saturated sectors. The argument advances SDG 16, SDG 8, SDG 4, SDG 5, SDG 10 and SDG 17, and eight design principles are proposed with indicators linked to official SDG indicators. 1. Introduction 1. Introduction Every security institution in the world depends on information it does not itself possess. Police forces learn of threats chiefly because members of the public tell them, and the public that knows most about the life of a street, a market, a campus or an online forum is disproportionately young. In a country whose population is as young as Nigeria's, the security of the nation therefore rests to an unusual degree on the knowledge, judgement and goodwill of its young people. That is the plain meaning of the Summit's theme. Yet the dominant public conversation about young people and security in Nigeria, as in much of the world, runs the other way. Young people appear in it chiefly as a risk: as potential recruits for insurgency, as participants in cybercrime, as protesters to be contained. The Summit of 12 August 2024 was convened eleven days after protests that seemed, to some observers, to confirm that view. Its organisers proposed the opposite reading: that the protests were themselves evidence of a reservoir of civic energy, informed, organised and articulate, that the nation could not afford to treat as a threat. This paper asks
data-title="Trust as Intelligence: Legitimacy, Procedural Justice and the Youth and Police Compact in Nigeria | UNESCO REF Paper No. 2" hidden> ← Back to the report of activities UNESCO REF · Paper No. 2 · 2026 Trust as intelligence La confiance comme renseignement : légitimité, justice procédurale et pacte entre la jeunesse et la police au Nigeria Legitimacy, procedural justice and the youth and police compact in Nigeria: why citizens share information with the police, the history and measurement of Nigeria's trust deficit, the conditions inside the institution, the global evidence and international cases on what builds trust, and a theory of change for the compact proposed at the Summit Author UNESCO REF Series Police Youths Summit Papers, No. 2 Published 2026 Length Six pages, fifteen sections, nine tables, SDG alignment map Cover: Youth delegates and the panel in dialogue, UNESCO REF Nigeria Police Youths Summit, Abuja, 12 August 2024. Photograph: UNESCO REF Media Centre. Contents Page 1 Abstract and key findings 1. Introduction 2. Concepts Page 2 3. Why citizens cooperate with the police 4. Nigeria's trust deficit Page 3 5. Inside the institution 6. What builds trust: the evidence Page 4 7. Lessons from four countries 8. The digital domain Page 5 9. The legal and institutional frame 10. A theory of change for the compact 11. Conditions and risks Page 6 12. Measuring trust 13. SDG alignment map 14. Recommendations 15. Limitations, research agenda and conclusion References Abstract The UNESCO REF Nigeria Police Youths Summit took as its theme the enhancement of the value of Nigerian youth for national security intelligence. This paper argues that the decisive variable in that enhancement is trust. Information about threats flows to the police from the public only where the public regards the police as legitimate and effective, and legitimacy, the evidence shows, is earned chiefly through fair treatment. The paper defines the relevant concepts and reviews the theory and evidence on why citizens cooperate with the police, including evidence from African settings that qualifies the findings of research in wealthier countries. It measures Nigeria's trust deficit using Afrobarometer data, traces its history and its recent aggravation by the protests of 2020 and 2024, and examines the conditions inside the institution, from strength and deployment to funding, welfare and structure, that shape the conduct of officers. It reviews the global evidence on what builds trust, including a major six-country experiment that found community policing alone did not, and draws lessons from police reform in Northern Ireland, Colombia, Sierra Leone and Kenya. It examines the digital domain, the legal frame and the risks of seeking intelligence from young people without protection. It concludes with a theory of change for the youth and police compact, the conditions under which it can succeed, an evaluation design, a map to the Sustainable Development Goals and recommendations. Keywords: police legitimacy, procedural justice, trust, community policing, intelligence-led policing, police reform, youth, Nigeria, accountability, data protection, civic space, Sustainable Development Goal 16 Key findings The most consistent predictor of whether citizens cooperate with the police is whether they regard the police as legitimate, and the strongest driver of legitimacy is procedural justice: being treated with fairness, respect and voice. Research in Ghana and South Africa shows that in insecure settings effectiveness also matters greatly. In Nigeria both fairness and effectiveness must improve together. Nigeria's trust deficit is severe. In Afrobarometer's 2022 survey only 15 per cent of adults trusted the police somewhat or a lot, and 73 per cent said most or all police are corrupt. Young adults hold views as negative as their elders, or more so. Conduct follows conditions. Overstretch, the diversion of officers to personal protection, inadequate pay and equipment, and centralised command shape what young people experience on the street. Trust cannot be built by exhortation while these conditions persist. A six-country randomised study published in 2021 found that standard community policing initiatives did not, on their own, increase trust or reduce crime. Where reform succeeded, as in Northern Ireland and in Colombia's quadrant plan, it changed structures, training and accountability, not only outreach. Digital channels can bring young people's knowledge into security, but only with anonymity, verification, data protection and a firm line between countering incitement and policing lawful opinion. The compact proposed at the Summit is sound in design and advances SDG 16 directly. Its success depends on sequence: visible accountability and fair treatment must precede, not follow, requests for information. 1. Introduction 1. Introduction The theme of the Summit joined two ideas that are often kept apart: the value of young people and national security intelligence. It is natural to read the theme as a request that young people provide more information to the police. This paper argues for a deeper reading. Information is the product of a relationship. Young people will share what they know about threats in their communities when, and only when, they believe that the institution receiving it will act competently, treat them fairly, protect them from reprisal and not turn the information against them or their peers. The enhancement of youth value for security intelligence is therefore, in the first place, the enhancement of trust. The point was made at the Summit itself. Professor Olanrewaju Fagbohun, in the guest keynote, named a "trust gap" between the security agencies and the youth. The youth delegates who questioned the Inspector-General about the policing of protests, about misconduct and about the operation at the premises of the Nigeria Labour Congress were testing the institution's willingness to account for i