Nigeria@62; Citizen Commons hosts a YANN Conversation at Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom

Over the weekend, Citizen Commons held one of its YANN conversations at Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom to celebrate Nigeria@62. 

Present in the conversation was concerned young Nigerians, members of Niger Delta Youth Parliament, Honourable Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Speaker of the Nigerian Youth Parliament, Local government chairman, youth leaders, students, and activists.  to discuss issues such as insecurity,  leadership, education, health, political participation, our Nigerian identity as well as the socio-political and economic realities of the country. The conversation offers a way to amplify our voice and discuss with our peers what we think our leaders should be doing to birth the New Nigeria we desire and our role in it.

The Youth Conversation for New Nigeria is convened as a series of youth-led, youth-focused consultations, community town halls sessions and focus group discussions, one on one interviews, designed to engage Nigerian youths, create awareness, and highlight policy issues of importance from communities to campuses. We seek to canvass ideas, thoughts, and opinions from Nigerian youths and advance “our New Nigeria.” We are asking critical questions and exploring honest answers about our picture in Nigeria’s future and beyond. The findings and opinions from these national consultations will be compiled into a publication titled: A Nigeria for the Many: A manifesto for the Nigeria we desire.

This activity is part of our #FromProtestTo Action project that seeks to leverage the increased passion of young Nigerians to demand accountability from all levels of government as well as take forward some of the learnings from the shortcomings of the #EndSARS protests. FPA is an effort to ensure that the renewed interest of youth is not wasted and the #EndSARS protests do not go by the way of previous citizens' actions.