By Amayindi Yakubu
As a young person myself, when I realised the theme of this year’s International Youth Day—Local Youth Actions for the SDGs and Beyond—it resonated immediately. It brought back memories of my national youth service year in Delta State and reignited my belief that writing, organising, and local action can translate global goals into lived realities. The SDGs are not abstract targets on a UN dashboard, they are a set of practical challenges that young Nigerians can tackle in their communities, neighbourhoods, and schools.
Today, Nigeria’s youth are not a demographic footnote. They are the majority of our people by feeling, if not always by formal metrics. Our median age hovers in the late teens, meaning the choices we make about education, jobs, and civic space will determine the shape of the country for decades. That youthful energy can be a blessing, but only if channeled through deliberate policy, finance, and partnership.
The facts on employment and opportunity are contested. Still, the lived reality is clear, many young Nigerians feel excluded from decent work and from the decision-making that affects their lives.
So where do we begin? First, with education that connects. Basic access is improving in some parts of the country, but quality is uneven, and curricula remain overstuffed with theory and light on practical skills. If the SDGs are to become household priorities, our schools must teach problem-solving, digital literacy, and enterprise as much as history and grammar. Technical and vocational training must stop being an afterthought. When a classroom produces a mechanic, a coder, or an agritech innovator who can find paying work, that is measurable progress toward SDG 8 on decent work and SDG 4 on quality education.
Second, jobs are not a matter of hope but of design. The private sector must sit at the table with government and donors to co-design apprenticeships that lead to real contracts. Public works can be structured with youth quotas. Small grants and patient capital must be available for start-ups that are more than ideas on a phone screen. Instruments such as the Nigeria Youth Investment Fund exist to close this gap, but access, transparency, and reach remain crucial. When these funds work as intended, they create pathways from aspiration to income.
Entrepreneurship needs ecosystems, not slogans. Young entrepreneurs need mentorship, fiscal incentives, and regulatory simplicity. Incubators must be decentralised beyond a few coastal cities so that Kano, Enugu, Asaba, and Port Harcourt also become hubs of creative manufacture and services. Blended finance models, where public seed capital reduces risk for private investors, can stretch scarce resources and crowd in long-term support. These align directly with SDG 1 on poverty reduction and SDG 9 on industry, innovation, and infrastructure.
Fourth, the digital economy is a frontier Nigeria cannot ignore. Young people lead in mobile adoption and in cultural production. Supporting affordable internet, protecting online rights, and investing in digital skills will turn that cultural energy into export earnings. Policies that lower the cost of data, incentivise local content platforms, and support remote work will expand opportunities for young Nigerians to sell services beyond our borders. That is practical action for SDG 8 and SDG 17 on partnerships.
Environment and climate are not abstract causes for protests alone. Young Nigerians already lead tree-planting drives, clean-up campaigns, and community farms. These local actions map perfectly to SDG 13 on climate and SDG 15 on life on land. What they need is scale, technical support, and market linkages. Imagine a coalition of youth cooperatives producing climate-smart crops, certified and sold to urban markets and export chains. The income generated would reduce poverty and build resilience.
Civic participation must be institutionalised. Protests and social media campaigns show that youth can surface grievances and spur reform. But they must also be invited into formal policy spaces. Youth advisory councils, with real budgets and statutory mandates at national and state levels, will ensure young voices shift policy from rhetoric to delivery. Electoral reforms that lower barriers for young candidates and party processes that mentor fresh leaders are small but powerful steps toward inclusive governance.
None of these interventions will happen without partnership. Youth groups in Nigeria have already organised to localise the SDGs. Networks such as the Nigeria Youth SDGs movement are building platforms for training, advocacy, and accountability. Their work shows how local actions can be aggregated into national impact when supported with funding, technical assistance, and legal recognition. These partnerships are the bridge between community-level projects and the SDG indicators that donors and governments monitor.
What does effective policy look like in practice? Start with three concrete moves. One, create a ring-fenced national Youth Development Fund that combines public seed capital, donor grants, and private matching investments. Two, require every federal ministry to publish a youth engagement plan showing how its programmes contribute to specific SDG targets. Three, mandate that any national infrastructure or clean-energy project include measurable youth employment and apprenticeship targets.
International Youth Day is a moment for ceremony and celebration, but it must also be a checkpoint. Where are the youth in national budgets? Where are they in procurement plans? Are they represented in climate committees and education reform teams? If the answers are weak, governments and partners must do better and fast.
Young people themselves have responsibilities. Agency is not only received; it is shaped. Youth must organise, collaborate across ethnic and regional lines, and hold institutions to account. They must pair idealism with strategy. Petitioning and protesting summon attention. Piloting, measuring, and scaling solutions wins hearts and wallets.
The SDGs will not wait. They are time-bound and interdependent. Every local youth-led enterprise that creates sustainable employment advances both economic inclusion and environmental stewardship. Every youth council that influences a city budget improves governance and service delivery. When Nigeria recognises youth action as infrastructure, the promise of the SDGs becomes achievable and immediate.
For a Nigeria with a young heart, the choice is clear. Invest in local youth action now and watch the SDGs become not just global targets but everyday improvements in schools, clinics, markets, and homes.
