ABUJA, Nigeria. In furtherance of the national effort to secure Nigeria’s food future through the empowerment of its young women, the President of the Read and Earn Federation for UNESCO (UNESCO REF), Prince Abdulsalami Ladigbolu-Oranmiyan, accompanied by Dr Mrs Elizabeth Egbetokun, National Advocate of the UNESCO REF Young Women in Agriculture (YWA) programme and then National President of the Police Officers’ Wives Association (POWA), paid a working visit to the Honourable Minister of Women Affairs, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim. The meeting finalised the modalities for implementing YWA and for the National 12 Million Mobilisation Campaign.

The engagement brought together the federal ministry charged with the advancement of Nigerian women and the civil society institution leading one of the country’s largest mobilisations of women in agriculture. Its purpose was practical: to agree how the two institutions would work together to translate national policy into opportunity for young women in every geopolitical zone.

A national priority

Une priorité nationale

The visit took place against the Federal Government’s declaration of food security as a national priority under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and alongside the First Lady’s Food Bank Initiative, which addresses hunger among vulnerable groups. The YWA programme places young women at the centre of that national effort, with a target of 12 million women, two million in each of Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.

The case for doing so is compelling. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reports a 24 per cent gender gap in productivity between women and men farmers on farms of equal size, and finds that closing the gender gaps in agrifood systems would raise global GDP by nearly US$1 trillion and reduce the number of food-insecure people by 45 million. In Nigeria, where the Cadre Harmonisé analysis projected that about 34.7 million people would face food insecurity in the 2026 lean season, the empowerment of women farmers is a matter of national resilience.

Perspectives of the delegation

Points de vue de la délégation

Prince Ladigbolu-Oranmiyan presented the YWA programme and the 12 Million Mobilisation Campaign as national platforms for empowerment and resilience, capable of positioning Nigeria as a continental leader in food security. He anchored both initiatives in the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Goal 1 on ending poverty and Goal 2 on ending hunger.

Dr Mrs Egbetokun underscored the importance of integrating women’s empowerment and youth mobilisation into agricultural policy. She welcomed the Ministry’s readiness to support the expansion of training, the mobilisation of resources and outreach to communities across the Federation.

Agreed outcomes

Résultats convenus

The meeting concluded with three commitments:

• Joint action frameworks to guide the rollout of the YWA programme across the States.
• Strengthened institutional collaboration between UNESCO REF and the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs.
• Partner mobilisation in support of the YWA programme and the 12 Million Mobilisation Campaign.

Significance

Portée

The engagement marks the alignment of a federal ministry with a civil society programme of national scale. By bringing the Ministry’s policy mandate together with UNESCO REF’s delivery architecture and POWA’s grassroots reach, the partnership creates a pathway through which the empowerment of young women can contribute directly to Nigeria’s food security.

ENDS

ABUJA, Nigeria, August 2024. At a moment of heightened national tension, the President of the Read and Earn Federation for UNESCO (UNESCO REF), Prince Abdulsalami Ladigbolu-Oranmiyan, paid a working visit to the Force Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Police Force, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, to finalise preparations for the first UNESCO REF Nigeria Police Youths Summit. The Summit was scheduled for 12 August 2024, United Nations International Youth Day.

The visit took place during the #EndBadGovernance protests of August 2024, when young Nigerians took to the streets in several States to voice grievances over economic hardship and governance. The protests brought the relationship between the nation’s youth and its security institutions into sharp public focus, and underscored the urgency of structured, good-faith dialogue between them.

Choosing dialogue over distance

Choisir le dialogue plutôt que la distance

Both parties agreed that the moment called for engagement rather than estrangement. The planned Summit would offer young people a direct and respectful channel to the leadership of the Nigeria Police Force, and offer the Force an opportunity to listen, explain and commit.

“A national platform for reconciliation and partnership.”

Prince Abdulsalami Ladigbolu-Oranmiyan, President, UNESCO REF, describing the Summit

ACP Adejobi affirmed the readiness of the Nigeria Police Force to partner UNESCO REF on youth-focused programmes, and welcomed the Summit as a contribution to public trust.

Purpose of the Summit

Objet du Sommet

The Summit was conceived around three objectives: to rebuild trust between the police and Nigerian youth, to advance civic education on rights, responsibilities and lawful engagement, and to create inclusive avenues through which young people could participate in shaping the policing of their communities.

What followed

La suite

The UNESCO REF Nigeria Police Youths Summit convened as planned on 12 August 2024 at the Nigeria Police Force Resource Centre, Abuja. More than 400 delegates from the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory engaged the Inspector-General of Police and two federal Ministers, and the Summit closed with five recommendations for a new compact between youth and the security institutions.

ENDS

September 2022. A global report by UNESCO, Leave no child behind: global report on boys’ disengagement from education, warns that boys in many parts of the world face a significant risk of not completing their education. While girls continue to face greater barriers to entering school and make up the majority of out-of-school children at primary level, the report finds that boys face mounting challenges at later stages of education.

The report challenges a narrow reading of gender equality in education. Its message is that equity requires attention to disadvantage wherever it falls: to the girls still denied entry to the classroom, and to the boys who enter it but leave too soon. It draws on data from across the world to show where, and why, boys are falling behind.

Key findings

Principales conclusions

Young men are under-represented in higher education in every region except sub-Saharan Africa. The report identifies East Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Arab States as regions where boys face some of the highest risks of dropping out.

Why boys disengage

Pourquoi les garçons décrochent

The report traces boys’ disengagement to poverty, child labour and other pressures that pull them away from learning. Child labour is a decisive factor: where boys are expected to work, school becomes secondary, grade repetition rises and dropout follows. Warning signs often appear as early as the end of primary school.

Recommendations

Recommandations

• Prevent boys from dropping out, acting on early warning signs at the end of primary school.
• Make learning environments safe and inclusive.
• Invest in better data and evidence on disengagement.
• Build and finance equitable education systems.
• Promote integrated, coordinated approaches that improve education for all learners.
• Align the minimum working age with the end of compulsory education.

Why it matters for Nigeria

Les enjeux pour le Nigéria

For Nigeria, the report’s findings resonate strongly. The country has an estimated 20 million out-of-school children and youth, and according to the National Bureau of Statistics, 24.7 million children aged 5 to 17 were in child labour in 2022. The report’s call to align the minimum working age with compulsory schooling speaks directly to the link between child labour and school dropout that UNESCO REF has highlighted in its own advocacy.

ENDS