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Creates task force to track implementation
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Recommendations to go to FEC, N’Assembly, judiciary
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360 constituencies, diaspora to send delegates
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The Federal Government has set November as the take-off point for implementing resolutions from the 2026 National Youth Confab, with recommendations to be channelled directly to the Federal Executive Council (FEC), National Assembly and relevant judicial institutions.
The Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja, saying the government was determined to prevent the October youth summit from becoming another national conference whose recommendations would be archived without action.
Olawande said the resolutions would be separated according to the arm of government responsible for implementing them, while a post-confab task force would track commitments, establish timelines and monitor progress.
He said recommendations requiring executive action would be taken to FEC, while those requiring legislation would be forwarded to the National Assembly for consideration.
Issues concerning the judiciary, he added, would be identified and referred to the appropriate judicial institutions.
“I’ve already said that we are not going back to documentation anymore. We are not going back to putting it and come and file it,” the minister said.
“We want to have a Federal Executive Council passing… things that were brought out of Confab. We want the National Assembly to pass a bill on most of the resolutions, not all that concerns them.”
The minister spoke at a press conference at the State House, Abuja, ahead of the National Youth Confab 2026, scheduled for October under the theme, “Next Gen Nigeria: Crafting Solutions, Owning the Future.”
According to him, the implementation framework was deliberately incorporated into the design of the conference after the government studied previous national conferences and their shortcomings.
He said the proposed Multi-Stakeholder Youth Confab Taskforce would classify the recommendations according to the institutions responsible for action and begin implementation from November.
The government, he said, would also develop mechanisms to extend implementation to state governments, stressing that youth development could not be treated exclusively as a Federal Government responsibility.
“There is nothing like federal youth. We have the national and we have the subnational,” he said.
Olawande said the government would also deploy a Youth Confab Impact Index, sustained youth policy dialogues and a youth-led monitoring and accountability framework to track whether commitments made at the summit were being fulfilled.
“We understand that young Nigerians do not need another document that will be produced and forgotten. They need action, opportunities, measurable commitments and institutions that listen and respond to their needs,” he said.
The minister said the confab would therefore be structured around producing practical policy proposals rather than merely generating another report.
The October exercise will run for two weeks, beginning with nationwide virtual consultations involving Nigerians aged 18 to 35 in the country and the diaspora.
A dedicated online platform will receive memoranda, ideas and policy proposals, which will subsequently feed into discussions at the physical conference in Abuja.
The physical phase will feature one youth delegate from each of Nigeria’s 360 federal constituencies and six representatives of Nigerians in the diaspora, alongside other stakeholders and observers.
Olawande said the arrangement was intended to take youth participation beyond Abuja and ensure that the final deliberations reflected experiences from across the country.
He said young entrepreneurs, students, farmers, technology innovators, professionals and Nigerians living abroad would be encouraged to participate, particularly those who felt excluded from existing decision-making structures.
The minister said delegates would be selected based on transparency, merit, grassroots representation, gender balance and regional inclusion, with consideration for persons with disabilities and other marginalised groups.
He dismissed concerns that politicians could hijack the process, saying delegates for the physical conference would emerge from the registration platform.
“Everybody from the 360 that is going to be physically in Abuja… are going to be picked from that platform,” he said.
Olawande added that neither he nor President Bola Ahmed Tinubu would determine who attended the conference, insisting that the exercise was designed to allow young Nigerians to participate organically.
He also said the approach would remain non-partisan despite the political activities expected to intensify ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The minister said zonal consultations would complement the virtual engagement and Abuja conference, allowing young Nigerians outside the Federal Capital Territory to contribute directly to the process.
The deliberations will focus on six areas: governance, leadership and political participation; economic transformation, entrepreneurship and job creation; education and skills for the future; technology, innovation and digital transformation; climate change and energy transition; and social harmony and security.
The programme will also include expert panels, policy laboratories, innovation showcases, networking sessions and focused policy discussions.
Olawande said the focus areas were selected to address challenges facing young Nigerians while identifying areas where they could contribute to national development.
He said with more than 70 per cent of Nigeria’s population below the age of 35, young people should no longer be treated simply as “leaders of tomorrow”.
“The future of Nigeria cannot be discussed without the active participation of young people.
“Young Nigerians are not merely leaders of tomorrow; they are partners in nation-building today. Their ideas, experiences and participation are essential to the progress of our country,” he said.
He called on Nigerians between 18 and 35 across the 36 states, the FCT and the diaspora to register on the platform, submit memoranda and policy proposals, nominate credible participants and join the consultations.
Also speaking, Special Assistant to the President on Social Media, Dada Olusegun, said the 18-month preparation for the confab enabled organisers to review previous national conferences and identify weaknesses that undermined implementation.
He said the objective was to ensure that deliberations translated into policies and programmes, adding that the administration had the political will to consider workable proposals emerging from the exercise.
Olusegun said the decision to draw delegates from all 360 federal constituencies was intended to give the physical conference broad geographical and social representation.
He added that participation would cut across political parties, ethnic and religious groups and include persons with disabilities.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Digital and New Media, O’tega Ogra, said the period of preparation had also coincided with the implementation of various youth-focused government programmes.
He cited the revamping of the Nigeria Youth Investment Fund and participation in vocational and digital skills programmes as initiatives that had provided the government with additional insight into the challenges confronting young Nigerians.
The Federal Government, through the confab, is seeking to move youth engagement from consultation to a process in which recommendations are assigned to institutions, subjected to government processes and subsequently tracked for implementation.
