The 2022 Youth Leadership Debates is about giving confidence to your voice; leveraging your voice as an effective tool to bring about a transformed Nigeria. The goal of the Youth Leadership Debate Competition is to provide capacity building to select young people across tertiary institutions and support them to critically evaluate information, to advocate from the point of knowledge, and to collectively shape their vision for Nigeria, hence equipping them to be active citizens.
Institutions of higher learning have a leading role in providing solutions to myriad of challenges facing the economy and shaping the economy through cutting edge research and innovative activities. Hence, the universities should serve as a hub where young people are provided holistic and robust support, engaged in intellectual debates that have national relevance and young people are empowered to solve socio economic issues. Hence, the goal of the Youth Leadership Debates competition is to provide capacity building to select young people across tertiary institutions and support them to critically evaluate information, to advocate from the point of knowledge, and to collectively shape their vision for Nigeria, hence equipping them to be active citizens. The programme will engage university and tertiary-level students across the six geo-political zones in Nigeria through an online campaign and campus tour that will foster policy debates on key socio economic issues and inspire active youth participation in electoral and decision-making processes - especially in light of the 2023 general elections. The debates will be centered around the theme #TheNigeriaWeWant.