Join in on Monday, August 24th from 17:30 to 18:00 GMT+1 as the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon talks to youth leaders in Nigeria about development and their role in shaping a better future for all.
The goals of the event will be to:
- Promote the sustainable development goals and increase momentum and ownership in Nigeria
- Produce and communicate key messages to influence national political actions towards the implementation of the SDGs.
- Increase the knowledge of young people in Nigeria and across Africa on the new development agenda, especially on its opportunity for dealing with youth development issues.
- Inspire the next generations of leaders on their roles in promoting sustainable development
- The Secretary-General will meet 10 youth from Nigeria and answer 3-4 questions on the development, climate change and the role of the youth.
The young leaders will then tweet his answers as will @UN social media platforms.
Hashtags and accounts to follow:
#Action2015NG, #SDGs and #SDGsNG @UN_Spokesperson @mcampaign
Secretary-General Twitter Chat on 24 August 17:30 GMT+1
Bios of Participants of Twitter Chat with the Secretary General
Amah Iember – @missamah05
Amah is a graduate of Geology from the University of Maiduguri and an indigene of Benue State. She has volunteered in various organizations such as Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, National Human rights commission and KAN development foundation. She is passionate about Human Rights and Political Governance issues. She currently work as an intern with the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) an organization that promotes democratic values. It supports civil society communities and advocates to governments on issues of governance; law, justice and human rights; public health and development; information, communication technology, and media.
Esther Agbarakwe – @estherclimate
Esther is a leading voice on International development issues especially on climate Change and reproductive health including Family Planning Nigeria and throughout Africa. Since she started work as a campaigner at the age of 9 in southern Nigeria, she has been working on environmental sustainability, social and environmental policy analysis, biodiversity conservation, and reproductive health and rights. She pioneered the Nigerian Youth Climate movement and currently sits as an advisor to the African Youth Initiative on Climate change (AYICC). Esther has led Nigerian and African Youth to more than 20 Sustainable Development engagement meetings where she made presentations and lobbied for Youth participation in global governance meetings.
She is very passionate about leveraging new media to connect, inform and empower young Africans on climate change and other development issues. She is the founder of SocialGood Nigeria and advisor to +SocialGood at the United National Foundation, Washington DC.
Maryam Abubakar – @mareeyama
Maryam holds an Executive Masters Degree in Business Administration from Preston University Ajman in the United Arab Emirates and a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from the University of Abuja, in Nigeria. She has undertaken extra-curricular activities serving in a multi-cultural environment and also had volunteer experiences in not-for-profit organisations within and outside Nigeria.
Maryam has honed her leadership, inter-personal interactions, team work, civic duty and resource management skills working with several organisations and Kaduna state government to address issues of youth and women empowerment. She is passionate about women’s rights, and has an unwavering passion for social justice, social responsibility and good governance. She has good understanding of English, Arabic and Hausa languages.
Rotimi Olawale – @rotexonline
Rotimi is a co-founder of youthhubafrica.org is a youth development expert. For more than six years he has been involved in leading youth advocacy efforts mainly around the Millennium Development Goals. In 2006, he represented Nigeria as a youth ambassador at the United Nations Global Youth Leadership Summit held at the UN Headquarters in New York. Rotimi has held several global leadership positions including; member, UNFPA Global Youth Advisory Panel for 2 years; member, African Youth Panel. Rotimi is currently involved in shaping local, national and global policies to benefit youth and also leverage opportunities for young people. He was listed by the Nigerian government as one of 15 Nigerian youth on the world stage in 2008.
Gabriel Adeyemo – @vinnydrey
Gabriel is a public health and development professional with 8 years of experience in advocacy on young people’s Sexual Reproductive Health and rights, ending gender-based violence, FGM, HIV, and reproductive maternal, newborn and child health. He is an MPH candidate in Epidemiology and Population Development from the Texila American University School of Public Health, Guyana. He has done fieldwork in 14 states of Nigeria and 7 countries, with wide-ranging experiences as a researcher, advocacy specialist, MDGs and SDGs campaigner with expertise cutting across both public and private sectors including the United Nations, Government of Nigeria, corporations, academia, and non-profit organization.
Edwin Ikhuoria – @edwindaniels1
Edwin is a development advocate that is highly Skilled in Rights Based Approach to policy analysis and project development for poverty reduction and livelihood protection. He has worked extensively with international development agencies including the World Bank, USAID and other advocacy organisations like the National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTS), Development Associates and the African Agricultural Technology Development Foundation (AATF) on various assignments including research, communications and advocacy.
He had his graduate education at the Universities of Turin, Italy and Lagos focusing on Management of Development and Geographic Information Systems respectively. His undergraduate was at Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma – Nigeria with a major in Geography. He is currently the Nigeria Country Representative for ONE campaign, a global policy advocacy and campaigns NGO.
Christiana Asala – @christyasala
Christiana is a Communication Specialist with experience in communication and media relations. She specializes in Social and Behaviour Change Communication and has over the years worked with various organizations such as: White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood, FHI 360, Hope World Wide Nigeria, Synergy Project Management Partners, Ultimate Health Maintenance Organization etc in building communication campaigns, advocacy and media relations.
Christiana has a passion for development issues and has wide-ranging experiences as a content developer, advocacy specialist, graphic artist, reporter, brand specialist, research and development specialist, media advisor, public relations specialist, with expertise cutting across both public and private sectors, including United Nations Millennium Campaign, Government of Nigeria and Non-governmental organizations.
Ojonwa Deborah Miachi – @ojonwa
Ojonwa is a National Youth Advocate with the United Nations Millennium Campaign (UNMC) in Nigeria where she generates awareness and mobilizes youth around post-2015 development priorities including quality education, inequalities and poverty. She is a Global Youth Ambassador for A World at School. She is also the Regional Coordinator of 10,000 Global Girls Initiative in Nigeria which empowers the lives of girls around the world through storytelling, creative expression, literacy and mentorship.
Her interests include youth intervention in development policies, universal access to quality education and healthcare, peace and conflict resolution, gender equality, data analysis as well as accountability and transparency within institutions. She has a BSc (Hons) in Economics from Bingham University in Nigeria.
Hamzat Lawal – @Hamzy12
Hamzat is an activist that has successfully led grassroots campaigns in over 40 African countries and specialises in the practical issues associated with Climate Change, Open Data and development policies as it affects rural communities. He is the Co-Founder & Chief Executive of Connected Development Hamzat seats on the Executive Board of The largest Youth movement in Africa: The African Youth Initiative on Climate Change (AYICC) managing communications with over 40,000 young people to share best practices and leading campaigns using technology tools in shaping the Post 2015 Development Agenda. Farida Yahya – @SpeshYH Farida Yahya is a 28 year old entrepreneur, biochemist, writer, and mentor. She holds a Bsc in Biochemistry from the University of Maiduguri. She has worked as a laboratory analyst with Dangote flour mills, Kano, and Nigerian bottling company, Abuja. In 2012, she founded Lumo Naturals, Abuja’s foremost natural hair salon and shop. The salon also produces and packages an organic skin and hair care range, made from the finest natural indigenous herbs, butters and oils. Last year, she trained over 10 girls on black hair science, and basic hair techniques to help them successfully run their own businesses. Farida also organizes quarterly Lumo Hair Club events and seminars to educate women about natural hair, and interact with other natural hair and skin care vendors. She is the CEO and Editor-in-chief at Spesh’s world; a news and features website with the sole aim of celebrating youth initiatives, and shining a light on the communities that are focused on creating solutions for their peculiar challenges. She is also the co-founder of Youths’ forum initiative: An NGO with interest in fostering collective responsibility, and making youths more aware of their communities and how they can initiate small changes that will make a big difference. She is a member of Beta business forum, and Kudirat Abiola initiative for democracy for young girls. Her interests also include; volunteering, charity and activism. She loves to read, write, create and network. 