UNESCO REF Police Youth Summit 2024 | President Tinubu Honours Invitation | Abuja
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The Abuja Communiqué · No. 01 UN International Youth Day 12 August 2024 · Abuja, FCT
Nigeria Police Force and UNESCO REF Youth Summit, Abuja
Summit Report · 2024

A New Compact Between Nigeria's Youth and Its Security Institutions

Theme for the Day

Enhancing the Nigerian Youth's Value for National Security Intelligence

Graced by the Highest Office in the Land

The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
honoured our invitation.

Representing the President Dr. Jamila Bio Ibrahim Honourable Minister of Youth Development, on behalf of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR
In Attendance IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, Ph.D., NPM Inspector General of Police, Nigeria Police Force
Occasion
UN International Youth Day
Date
12 August 2024
Venue
NPF Resource Centre, Abuja
Delegates
400+ Across 36 States
Jointly Convened By UNESCO REF Nigeria Police Force
Presidential Address
From the Office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
Together, we can build a nation that is not only prosperous…
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR Delivered on his behalf by Dr. Jamila Bio Ibrahim, Honourable Minister of Youth Development, who set out the administration's youth empowerment agenda before the summit.
₦10m
NYSC Enterprise Fund
Venture funding of up to ten million naira per beneficiary, reforming the corps experience toward entrepreneurship.
5,000
Corps Ventures
Young graduates' enterprises earmarked for support under the scheme, building sustainable careers.
30%
Youth in Governance
The Federal Executive Council's youth inclusion commitment, embedding young voices in decision making.
NYSP
Skills & Leadership
The National Youth Skills Programme and a planned Young Leaders Institute to ready talent for leadership.
§ 01

The Summit at a Glance

On the morning of 12 August 2024, the Nigeria Police Force and UNESCO REF convened a landmark youth summit in Abuja to mark the United Nations International Youth Day. The gathering drew government officials, security agencies, civil society organisations and youth leaders from every corner of the federation, and set out to reimagine the relationship between young Nigerians and the institutions charged with their security.

400+
Delegates
Government officials, security personnel, youth representatives and civil society leaders.
04
Thematic Pillars
Crime prevention, conflict resolution, social media engagement and community policing.
36+1
States & FCT
Youth delegates drawn from every state of the federation plus the Federal Capital Territory.
08hrs
Engagement
A full day of keynote addresses, interactive sessions and frank dialogue.
Opening Ceremony

Corps Members Unite the Federation Through Dance

The summit opened with a vibrant cultural performance by members of the National Youth Service Corps, whose choreography celebrated Nigeria's rich diversity. In their distinctive khaki, the corps members performed traditional dances representing the nation's major cultural traditions, embodying the summit's animating idea: unity in diversity.

/ 01
Ekombi
South-South
An energetic traditional dance showcasing the vibrant heritage of Nigeria's coastal regions.
/ 02
Bàtá
Yoruba · South-West
A ceremonial dance reflecting the refined cultural traditions of the South-West.
/ 03
Swange
Middle Belt
A rhythmic celebration embodying the spirit of community and harvest festivals.
/ 04
Royal Court Dances
Northern Nigeria
Dignified courtly dances representing the emirate traditions and their cultural sophistication.

The performance reminded delegates that the National Youth Service Corps was itself established in 1973 to promote national unity and integration, the very objectives that animated the summit's security partnership.

§ 02

Order of Proceedings

A single, carefully orchestrated day of sessions designed to make room for authentic dialogue between security leadership and Nigeria's youth.

09:00Hrs
Opening Ceremony & NYSC Performance

A cultural celebration by corps members featuring traditional dances from Nigeria's major cultural traditions, setting a tone of unity and collaboration.

10:00Hrs
Inspector General of Police
Keynote Address

IGP Kayode Egbetokun set out his vision for a youth and police partnership, framing young people as essential security partners rather than potential threats.

11:00Hrs
President, UNESCO REF
Presidential Address

Prince Abdulsalami Ladigbolu articulated a vision of youth as change agents, bridging innovative security approaches with technological fluency and community ties.

12:00Hrs
Honourable Minister of Police Affairs
Ministerial Address

Senator Ibrahim Gaidam connected the summit to President Tinubu's Renewed Hope Agenda, casting youth as leaders in national security and development.

14:00Hrs
Guest Keynote
On Trust and Accountability

Professor Olanrewaju Fagbohun addressed the trust gap between security agencies and youth, proposing frameworks for accountability and transparency.

15:00Hrs
Youth Question & Answer Session

An extended exchange in which youth delegates put direct, challenging questions to the IGP on protest management, accountability and institutional reform.

16:00Hrs
Interactive Thematic Sessions

Breakout sessions across the four pillars (crime prevention, conflict resolution, social media engagement and community policing) yielding concrete proposals.

17:00Closing
On Behalf of the President of the Federal Republic
Presidential Address & Close of Summit

The day closed with an address delivered on behalf of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu by Dr. Jamila Bio Ibrahim, Minister of Youth Development. Setting out the administration's youth empowerment agenda, including reformed NYSC enterprise funding, the National Youth Skills Programme, the Federal Executive Council's 30% youth inclusion commitment and the planned Young Leaders Institute, before bringing the summit to a formal conclusion.

§ 03

Leadership Voices

This day underscores the importance of empowering youths, amplifying their voices, and ensuring that their contributions are acknowledged and nurtured. The Nigeria Police Force is fully committed to protecting the rights and welfare of our youths.
IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, Ph.D., NPMInspector General of Police
Our focus today is on youths recognising themselves as change agents. They are the ones who can bridge the gap to innovative approaches to national security, because of their familiarity with technology, social media and contemporary communication tools.
Prince Abdulsalami LadigboluPresident, UNESCO REF
The Renewed Hope Agenda is rooted in a vision for a Nigeria where our youth are not only participants but leaders. Together, we must cultivate a culture of constructive dialogue, resorting to discussion to express grievances rather than destructive action.
Senator Ibrahim GaidamHonourable Minister of Police Affairs
There is a trust gap between the security agencies and the youth. When that protest happened, two forces were at play. Those with genuine grievances who wanted the nation to listen, and those with ulterior motives who exploited the situation.
Professor Olanrewaju Fagbohun, SANFormer Vice-Chancellor, Lagos State University; Co-Founder, RouQ & Company Law Firm
§ 04

Four Pillars of Partnership

The architecture of a youth and security compact, organised around four mutually reinforcing domains.

01
Crime Prevention
Proactive, community based interventions and early warning systems that draw on youth networks and local knowledge.
02
Conflict Resolution
Youth-led mediation frameworks and de escalation protocols that harness peer influence for peaceful outcomes.
03
Social Media Engagement
Digital intelligence and counter misinformation strategies built on the technological fluency of the young.
04
Community Policing
Grassroots partnerships and trust building that make security operations more responsive and effective.
§ 05

The Dialogue: Questions That Mattered

The question and answer session proved among the day's most revealing moments. Youth delegates pressed the Inspector General directly; he answered with a candour that captured both the value of open dialogue and the genuine complexity of Nigeria's security challenges.

Dispatch · Lagos Delegate

The Policing of Recent Protests

The Question

A Lagos delegate asked the IGP to explain the Force's approach to managing the "Ten Days of Rage" protests, citing concerns about the use of force and the constitutional right to peaceful assembly.

The Response

The IGP held that the role of the police is not to prevent protest but to manage it. He noted that intelligence had pointed to certain agents of destabilisation intending to exploit the hardship protests, and said anyone privy to that intelligence would understand the concern, while declining to disclose details of ongoing investigations.

Dispatch · Abuja Delegate

On the "Bad Eggs" Within the Force

The Question

An Abuja delegate asked what the IGP was doing about corrupt officers whose conduct undermines public trust in the entire Police Force.

The Response

The IGP acknowledged that problematic conduct appears across all Nigerian institutions, not policing alone, observing that societies tend to get the police forces they deserve. Even so, he stressed that his administration has been actively removing bad eggs, because responsible leadership demands accountability regardless of wider societal challenges.

Dispatch · Labour Sector

The Nigeria Labour Congress Raid

The Question

A labour sector representative asked about the controversial police raid on NLC premises, which had drawn accusations of intimidation against civil society.

The Response

The IGP clarified that the operation targeted a specific suspect linked to the Sudan crisis, not the NLC leadership, whom intelligence had traced to a shop within the building. The action, he said, was intelligence driven and operationally justified, not political intimidation.

Dispatch · Halimat Chagua · North West Delegate

Protection for Nigeria's Farmers

The Question

Halimat Chagua, a North-West delegate, asked what measures the Force was putting in place to protect farmers from bandits and insurgents.

The Response

The IGP announced that the Force had commenced dedicated farm patrols, designed to give farmers the confidence to work their land. These represent proactive security rather than reactive crisis response, establishing a visible police presence through the vulnerable planting and harvest seasons.

§ 06

Strategic Recommendations

Five recommendations for translating the youth and security partnership from concept into operational reality.

01

An Institutional Architecture for Youth Engagement

Establish formal youth advisory councils at federal, state and local levels with genuine influence, not merely consultative status, in security policy development and operational planning. Begin with pilot programmes in selected states, evaluate rigorously, and scale nationally on the strength of demonstrated impact.

02

Technology-Enabled Intelligence Networks

Develop secure digital platforms that allow youth to contribute intelligence on community threats while protecting anonymity and guaranteeing due process. The technical architecture must include end to end encryption, verification mechanisms and transparent evaluation procedures.

03

Rebuilding Trust Through Transparency

Address the trust deficit through comprehensive accountability reforms: independent oversight of police and youth interactions, accessible complaint procedures, and regular public reporting on youth related security operations and their outcomes.

04

Economic Empowerment as Security Strategy

Recognise that durable security requires confronting the economic grievances that drive youth frustration. Integrate skills training, employment facilitation and entrepreneurship support, targeted at young people in high risk communities.

05

Continuous Dialogue and Adaptive Partnership

Institutionalise regular youth and security summits as standing dialogue mechanisms. Quarterly national convenings, with more frequent regional dialogues, should create the feedback loops that let security strategy adapt to evolving youth perspectives and emerging threats.

§ 07

The Backdrop

The August 2024 Protests

The summit's significance cannot be read apart from the #EndBadGovernance protests, the "Ten Days of Rage" that began on 1 August 2024. Led predominantly by young Nigerians, the demonstrations reflected deep anxiety over economic hardship following policy changes including the removal of the fuel subsidy.

Economic toll. By the account of Minister Doris Nkiruka, the protests cost the economy roughly $325m per day, with small and medium enterprises bearing a disproportionate share of the burden.

Human cost. Amnesty International documented at least 22 fatalities, concentrated largely in the north: losses that continue to weigh on families and communities nationwide.

A Partnership for Friendship

It was against this backdrop that UNESCO REF and the Nigeria Police Force convened the summit jointly, in a deliberate pivot away from reactive crisis management and towards the patient work of building friendship between the badge and the nation's youth.

Rather than allowing the protests to harden adversarial relations between young Nigerians and the security services, the partnership opened structured space for dialogue, mutual understanding and joint problem solving, with youth and police in the same room as partners rather than adversaries.

Convening so soon after the protests, while emotions ran high and the issues remained live, signalled institutional responsiveness, and generated a momentum for trust that delay might well have dissipated.

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§ 08 · Moving Forward

Groundwork Laid; What Follows Will Decide Its Worth

The summit of 12 August 2024 marks a potential inflection point in how Nigeria's security institutions conceive of their relationship with the nation's youth. Its proceedings showed, convincingly, that the country's security imperatives and the capabilities of its young people align far more naturally than conventional wisdom allows.

No security strategy can succeed without the cooperation, the input and the active participation of young Nigerians.

Young people's fluency with digital platforms, their extensive peer networks and their intimate knowledge of community dynamics make them natural partners in intelligence gathering, early warning and community policing. What remains is the institutional will to turn frameworks into operations.

Nigeria's demographic reality, with youth as the majority of the population, renders this partnership not merely desirable but existentially necessary. The August summit laid important groundwork; what follows will determine whether that groundwork becomes a foundation for transformation.

A Partnership for Trust
UNESCO REF Nigeria Police Force

Convened in the wake of the #EndBadGovernance protests, this summit was organised jointly by UNESCO REF and the Nigeria Police Force: a deliberate effort to rebuild trust, and to build a lasting friendship between the badge and Nigeria's youth.

The Abuja Communiqué · No. 01 · UN International Youth Day 2024