Policy Alert, along with a coalition of civil society and youth-led organizations, including the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) and BudgIT Foundation, has initiated a national campaign named #YouthVoices2060.
The campaign aims to integrate the perspectives and priorities of young people into Nigeria’s energy transition. Launched virtually, the program seeks the Federal Government’s reconsideration of its Energy Transition Plan to include youth viewpoints in its execution.
According to a statement by Policy Alert’s Media Officer, Nneka Luke-Ikenna, the initiative, led by Edidiong Dickson, Policy Alert’s Programme Officer for Energy, Extractives, and Climate Justice, constitutes a collaborative effort by young individuals and youth-focused organizations contributing to Nigeria’s shift from fossil fuels to a cleaner energy future.
The statement highlights that existing domestic policies, including the Energy Transition Plan of August 24, 2022, lack youth involvement in their development and lack explicit references to youth priorities.
The call is made for the Nigerian government to reassess the Energy Transition Plan, incorporating youth perspectives as the nation aims for carbon neutrality by 2060.
“Youth Voices 2060 is launched as an organic market place of ideas for and by young people.With over 70 percent of its population below the age of 30. Nigeria, which has the world’s biggest youth cohort relative to its population size, also has one of the largest energy deficits globally.
“In the context of the global energy transition, this contradiction offers a demographic opportunity to transform the country’s energy system in clean and sustainable ways that can benefit both young people and society in general,” The statement added
Speakers at the launch event included Olumide Olaniyan, Executive Director of International Climate Change Development Initiative (ICCDI), Chizoba Nzeakor, a climate and clean energy professional with Zoba Advisory, and Emmanuel Anene, a doctoral researcher in clean energy. Others included David Arinze, Programme Officer at Diamond Development Initiatives, Lauritta Boniface, Co-founder of Ecocykle, and Richard Umar, Founder of Youth Voyage of Nigeria.
