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

Three words at Eagle Square

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.

The spiral

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.

An answer in the fields

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

Ten days in August

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.

A conversation at Louis Edet House

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.

The Summit

Le Sommet

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

On the record

Les déclarations officielles

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.

The dialogue

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.

The Abuja Communique and the accountability framework

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:

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.

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

ENDS