Presidency, Lagos To Hold Dialogue On Youth Leadership

The federal government, in collaboration with the Lagos State government, is set to convene the first-ever Abuja Dialogue aimed at placing youth leadership at the centre of national discourse.

According to a statement by the spokesman of the vice president, Stanley Nkwocha, the dialogue, scheduled to hold on Monday, April 13, 2026 in Abuja under the theme, “Scaling Excellence: Youth Leadership as Strategic Infrastructure for National Transformation,” is a precursor to the Lagos Leadership Summit.

Deputy chief of staff to the president, Senator Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia, who disclosed this on Friday in Abuja during a news conference to announce arrangements for the event, noted that the dialogue’s emphasis is on young Nigerians not as a matter of rhetoric or aspiration, but as a strategic priority.

He said, “Central element of this initiative is the recognition that youth leadership and development must move beyond the language of inclusion and toward a more structured understanding of responsibility.

“While inclusion provides access, responsibility requires preparation, and it is this preparation that ultimately determines whether young people are able to contribute meaningfully within systems that demand competence, discipline, and accountability.

“The Abuja Dialogue will therefore focus on identifying the mechanisms through which this preparation can be achieved, including the role of structured training, institutional exposure, mentorship, and performance evaluation in building leadership capacity over time,” he added.