PRESS STATEMENT – CITIZEN COMMONS INTERNATIONAL LAUNCHES THE NIGERIAN YOUTH VOICE SURVEY

Thursday, 29th September 2022
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

PRESS STATEMENT –
CITIZEN COMMONS INTERNATIONAL LAUNCHES THE NIGERIAN YOUTH VOICE SURVEY

Welcome and Protocols.

Today, we are gathered at the press briefing to raise awareness of the public launch of the Nigerian Youth Voice Survey, a special effort dedicated to capturing the experiences, opinions, ideas, and thoughts of young Nigerians about the future of Nigeria and our roles in it. This survey is part of our Youth Conversation for New Nigeria, a national consultation convened as a series of youth-led, youth-focused consultations, community town hall sessions, and focus group discussions designed to engage Nigerian youths, create awareness, and highlight policy issues of
importance from communities to campuses.

The survey seeks to capture the voices of young Nigerians on several topical issues of importance to us as youths and as a country. As we explore our picture in Nigeria’s future, we are asking our peers to share their experiences on what it means to be Nigerian, our voices as the new voices in policy-making across all levels of government. We ask about deepening our democracy, political participation, inclusion, and active citizenship.

As young people, we recognize the future of Nigeria is in our hands and we must be intentional about the policy, politics as well as principles, and practices that shape our national development and government priorities – hence the use of evidence-based resources to engage our leaders and stakeholders on our hopes, aspirations for the future. As such, the conversation explores a unique opportunity to capture the best of youth voice in topical areas; from insecurity to political participation, our Nigerian identity, and deepening democracy, leadership, education, and health as sociopolitical and economic realities. It offers a new way to amplify our voice and share with our peers what we think our leaders should be doing to birth the New Nigeria we desire and our role in it.

With concerns surrounding educational opportunities for young Nigerians with incessant and prolonged ASUU strikes, we are exploring our future as Nigerian youths with mass unemployment and limited economic opportunities. Issues such as peace, insecurity, public leadership, entrepreneurship, renegotiating our federal system, access to social services, police brutality, access to justice, quality education, health, housing, our perception of corruption, and Nigeria’s brand in the eye of the world are not left out.

The survey is about young Nigerians taking charge of our future by informing our leaders of our priorities with evidence, and we call on our peers to stand out and complete the survey in mass so we can build the Nigeria we desire. We are reaching out to youth leaders, student leaders, activists, civic leaders, community leaders and
media houses, online and traditional media outlets to help spread the word and mobilize young people aged 18 to 35 to complete this public survey.

In the next few hours, Nigeria will be celebrating its 62nd Independent Anniversary, and this is another opportunity to reflect on our collective responsibility as Nigerians to take action to be solutions providers and responsible citizens to build our country. Nigeria today is far from the dreams of our founding fathers and we must all contribute to the effort to redirect the fortunes of this country toward the more inclusive socio-political aspirations of our founding fathers, we must build a Nigeria that works for the many and not the few.

We are targeting up to 25,000 responses across geo-political zones and we will be reaching out to youths where they are. Our mobilization efforts will reach out to young people from campuses to communities, from villages to cities, and ensure that represent the participation of the Nigerian youth population.

About the Youth Conversation for New Nigeria
The survey is part of 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.

The key objective of the conversation is
• Consult young Nigerians and gather their ideas, and thoughts on the New Nigeria and our future in it.
• Conduct the maiden edition of the Nigerian Youth Voice Survey – an authoritative mapping and insights into Nigeria youth voice on topical issues of national importance.
• Identify key issues of important young Nigerians that our leaders should focus on.
• Develop a series of ideas and recommendations based on the ideas and thoughts of youth on to present to local, state, and national leaders.
• The importance of youth voice as a voice for change and the actualization of a new Nigeria.

In the course of the conversation, we are reaching out to young people in 24 cities, campuses, and communities across Nigeria as well as exploring additional opportunities to capture the thoughts of youth through the Nigeria Youth Voice Survey – a special data gathering effort to provide insights on youth voice in Nigeria. We will also be conducting several one-on-one interviews to spotlight the ideas and thoughts of selected youth leaders across Nigeria.

This independent weekend, we are hosting simultaneous town hall consultations in Abeokuta, Ibadan, Enugu, Owerri as well Ikot Ekpene and many more will follow.

The survey can be completed online using this link –
www.bit.ly/NigeriaYouthVoiceSurvey For us, the realization of a New Nigeria is not an abstract distant construct, it remains alive in the hearts of young Nigerians whose futures are affected by the decisions of our leaders and we seek efforts to make them accountable. We are confident that a New Nigeria can be achieved in our lifetime, One YOUTH, One action, One at a time.

The Nigerian Youth Voice Survey as well as the Youth Conversations for New Nigeria is part of the From Protest to Action Activating our New Nigeria project funded under the voice program implemented by Oxfam in Nigeria and funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Netherlands.

About Citizen Commons
Citizens’ Common Advocacy International is a citizen action organization, committed to empowering everyday citizens to take social action targeted at solving small and big societal challenges using the power of community, collaboration, innovation, and technology. Through our Community Impact Spaces, we provide the platform to
incubate social ideas, engage in community dialogue, explore policy solutions, and resource social entrepreneurs, civic leaders, and community activists in their resolve to find innovative solutions to social problems. We are an emerging social impact organisation committed to resourcing a generation of social changemakers in their
effort to hold the government accountable, promote active citizen participation, and make democracy work for the people. Our interventions are targeted as promoting the principles of a democratic, just, peaceful, and thriving society, ensuring accountable governance and open government, advancing citizens’ rights and civic engagement, activating citizen action for social impact makers, and promoting the success of sustainable development goals locally.

Thank You.

Olalekan Oshunkoya
Executive Director, Citizen Commons International
Abuja, Nigeria

Media Enquiries.
Bukola Adimula, Comms Associate.
comms@citizencommons.org
07083026063