Citizen Commons Hosts 5 YANN Conversation Across 5 Different States in Nigeria to celebrate Nigeria @62

Over the weekend to celebrate Nigeria @62, we held a series of the YANN conversation Town meetings in 5 different locations in the country. The locations are Ibadan, Owerri, Ikot Ekpene, Abeokuta, and Enugu.

With concerns surrounding educational opportunities for young Nigerians with Incessant and prolonged ASUU strikes, mass unemployment, bad governance and insecurity in the country, Nigeria’s independence day is a sober reflection of how bad the leadership system in the country is currently and the clear disconnection between the leaders and the Nigeria citizens.

Present in the different conversations were concerned Nigeria youths, activists, youth leaders, members of the state parliament, and student leaders 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.

Youth Conversation for New Nigeria (YANN) is a national consultation convened as a series of youth-led, youth-focused consultations, community town halls sessions and focus group discussions 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.