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Many young people are unaware of proposed laws, public hearings, and legislative decisions that affect their lives.

I propose that the Lagos State House of Assembly strengthen public access to legislative information through a youth-friendly digital platform that provides simplified summaries of bills, public hearing notices, and opportunities for citizen feedback.

Information should also be shared through community organizations and accessible social media channels.

This would improve transparency, encourage youth participation, and help citizens contribute meaningfully to governance.

Policy Title: Statewide Menstrual Health and Girls’ Education Protection Policy

The Problem

Menstrual health challenges, limited access to sanitary products, inadequate sanitation facilities, and poverty can make it difficult for girls to participate consistently in school. Girls should not have to choose between managing their menstrual health and pursuing their education.

My Policy Proposal

I propose that the State House of Assembly introduce a Menstrual Health and Girls’ Education Protection Policy to ensure that every girl in public primary and secondary schools has access to menstrual hygiene education, affordable or free sanitary products for girls from low-income households, and safe, private, and functional sanitation facilities.

The policy should require schools to provide age-appropriate menstrual health education, establish confidential reporting channels for menstrual health-related challenges, and strengthen protection against discrimination, bullying, and exclusion associated with menstruation.

The state government should collaborate with schools, healthcare professionals, civil society organisations, and development partners to implement the policy. Annual budgetary allocations should support its implementation, while the relevant legislative committees monitor progress through school inspections, public reporting, and feedback from students.

Expected Impact

This policy would promote girls’ school attendance and retention, protect their dignity, improve menstrual health awareness, and advance gender equality in education. It would also strengthen government accountability by ensuring that commitments to girls’ rights translate into practical action.

Every girl deserves an equal opportunity to learn, grow, and achieve her dreams without menstrual health challenges becoming a barrier to her education.

POLICY TITLE: Oyo State SGBV Prevention, Response and Survivors' Economic Empowerment Trust Fund Bill

THEME: Gender Justice / Sustainable Financing / Human Capital Development

1. THE PROBLEM:

Oyo State has domesticated progressive laws including the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Law and Child Rights Law. However, implementation remains donor-driven and unsustainable.

From my 8 years working on SGBV prevention and response, I have seen 3 critical gaps in Oyo State:

a) The Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) in Oyo State is currently inactive and shelters struggle with funding, consumables, and sustained psychosocial and legal support.

b) Over 70% of survivors who want to leave abusive environments return to the same environment due to economic dependence. We rescue without sustainable reintegration.

c) There is no statutory, transparent funding mechanism for SGBV in the state budget. Allocations are ad-hoc, making citizen tracking and accountability difficult.

We have good laws, but no sustainable financing framework to implement them.

2. POLICY OBJECTIVE:

To create a legally backed, sustainable, transparent and accountable financing mechanism for SGBV prevention, comprehensive response and long-term economic empowerment of survivors in Oyo State.

3. MY POLICY PROPOSAL:

I propose a Bill for the establishment of the Oyo State SGBV Trust Fund with the following features:

a) Statutory Funding: Funded by 1% of Oyo State IGR, 5% contribution from the State Security Trust Fund, private sector CSR, and a donor basket fund. This ensures sustainability beyond donor cycles.

b) Ring-fenced Utilization: Leveraging my accounting background, I propose the law should mandate a clear formula: 40% to SARC revitalization, operations, medical and legal aid; 30% to Survivors' Economic Reintegration (skills, start-up grants, education support for girl survivors); 20% to prevention in schools and communities; 10% to data, research and annual audit. Annual audited reports to be published for public accountability.

c) Project Management Approach to Reintegration:Every enrolled survivor should have a 12-month managed reintegration plan handled by a trained case manager - from trauma counseling to economic empowerment - not just one-off assistance. This ensures value for money and measurable outcomes.

d) Inclusive Governance:The Fund should be managed by a multi-stakeholder Board comprising the Oyo State SGBV Response Agency, Ministries of Women Affairs, Justice, Health, and Finance, plus CSOs with proven SGBV track record and a survivor representative to ensure citizen oversight.

4. EXPECTED OUTCOME:

If passed, Oyo State will transition from donor-dependent response to a state-owned, sustainable model. It will lead to functional SARCs, reduced return-to-abuser rates, improved conviction rates through funded legal aid, and transparent, measurable budget performance on gender justice.

This is not just a gender policy, it is an accountability, economic inclusion and human capital development policy.

I have field data from 8 years of SGBV work and would be happy to co-develop a policy brief on this.

#SGBV #GenderResponsiveBudgeting #OyoState #TrustFund #InclusiveLegislation

1. The Problem

Youth unemployment is one of the challenges Ekiti State needs to address. Many young people graduate from universities and other institutions but struggle to find jobs. Others acquire vocational or digital skills but lack the resources, experience, and opportunities to earn a living from them. As a result, many young people remain dependent on their families despite their education and abilities.

2. Why It Should Be Addressed

Young people are important to the economic growth of Ekiti State. When they cannot find productive work, their talents remain underutilised, families face financial pressure, and the state loses opportunities for economic development. Addressing youth unemployment will help young people become financially independent, support local businesses, and contribute to the development of their communities.

3. THE SOLUTION FRAMEWORK: CONNECTING YOUNG PEOPLE TO REAL ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES

I propose that Ekiti State establish a Youth Skills-to-Jobs Programme that focuses not only on training young people but also on helping them secure employment or establish sustainable businesses.

The framework would have four key components:

A. Train for Available Jobs: Work with employers, farms, technology companies, and local businesses to identify the skills they need and provide relevant practical training.

B. Create Pathways to Employment: Establish partnerships with businesses to provide internships, apprenticeships, and job placements for trained young people.

C. Support Young Entrepreneurs: Provide access to business mentorship, markets, and transparent funding opportunities for young people with viable business ideas.

D. Measure Results, Not Just Training: Require the government to track how many participants secure jobs, start businesses, and sustain their businesses over time. Regular reports should be published to promote accountability.

4. Expected Impact

This approach would help bridge the gap between education and employment, improve access to economic opportunities, strengthen local businesses, and reduce young people's dependence on temporary assistance.

Conclusion

Ekiti State needs to move beyond training young people and begin creating clear pathways for them to earn a living. The success of youth empowerment should not be measured by the number of certificates distributed, but by the number of young people who can turn their skills into sustainable livelihoods.

Policy problem: Many young children face barriers to quality early childhood education, including financial constraints, inadequate learning facilities, limited access to trained early-years teachers, and insufficient awareness among parents about the importance of early learning.

Proposed solution: The Lagos State Government should strengthen early childhood education through a state policy that promotes affordable and accessible pre-primary education, supports teacher training, establishes minimum standards for early-years learning environments, and encourages partnerships among government, schools, parents, and civil society organisations.

The traders, artisans, drivers and small business owners who keep Lagos running will reach old age with no pension. Nigeria's Micro Pension Plan was created for them in 2019, but only about 17,000 informal workers nationwide were actively contributing at the end of 2025. Pensions are regulated federally, but Lagos holds the levers that matter most for uptake. This proposal calls on the Lagos State House of Assembly to pass an Informal Workers Pension Inclusion Law that matches the first contributions of low-income savers, enrols workers through the associations and state services they already use, and protects their money from misuse.

The problem

At Fidelity Pension Managers, I watched older men and women come in to claim the benefits they now depend on to survive. It struck me that they were the fortunate few people who had spent years working for organisations inside the pension system. I thought of a relative who ran a retail cosmetics shop for over 12 years. Today, at her age, she is still struggling to make ends meet, because no retirement system was ever built for someone like her. Her story is the story of most working people in Lagos.

Statistics by Nairametrics point out that about 92% of employed Nigerians work in the informal and only around 11.2 million people held retirement savings accounts in March 2026, roughly 12% of the labour force. A report by BusinessDay states that PenCom's Director-General has described informal-sector pension coverage as about 0.25%, effectively zero.

Lagos feels this more than most states, because its economy runs on traders, artisans, transport workers and small business owners. Without a pension, these workers depend on their children in old age, keep working long after their health fails, or fall into poverty. As Nigeria's young population ages, this will become one of the state's largest social and fiscal pressures.

The Law

The Pension Reform Act 2014 created the Contributory Pension Scheme, which is compulsory for employers with three or more staff. Section 2(3) extends the scheme to the self-employed and informal workers, and on that basis PenCom launched the Micro Pension Plan in March 2019. The plan is well designed for irregular incomes:

•        contributors choose how often to pay, whether daily, weekly or monthly

•        40% of savings can be withdrawn for emergencies, with 60% kept for retirement

•        funds are managed by licensed pension fund administrators and held by separate custodians

Yet uptake has been very low. The barriers are well understood given that participation is voluntary, informal workers distrust financial institutions after years of failed savings schemes, there is little reward for the first naira saved, and signing up still feels distant from daily working life.

What Lagos can do

Lagos cannot change the Pension Reform Act or regulate pension administrators; those are federal matters for PenCom. But federal design is not what holds informal workers back. What holds them back is trust, convenience and the lack of an immediate reason to start, and on all three the state has real levers:

•        Money. The state can fund incentives for its own residents to save.

•        Reach. It licenses traders, transport operators and businesses, registers residents, runs markets and funds enterprise loans.

•        Trust. It works daily with the market, transport and artisan associations that informal workers rely on.

The proposal uses these levers alongside the federal scheme, without duplicating it.

THE PROPOSAL: AN INFORMAL WORKERS PENSION INCLUSION LAW

1.      Match the first contributions. For low-income Lagos residents who join the Micro Pension Plan, the state would add a matching contribution, for example 50 naira for every 100 saved, up to a yearly cap, for the first two years. This turns the first contribution from a sacrifice into a visible gain, which is what drives people to keep saving.

2.      Enrol people where they already are. Every time an informal worker deals with the state, such as registering a business, renewing a trade or transport permit, applying for a Lagos State Employment Trust Fund loan or registering as a resident, they would be offered on-the-spot enrolment through a licensed pension agent. Joining would stay voluntary, but the offer would be automatic.

3.      Work through associations. The state would sign partnerships with market, transport and artisan associations, training trusted members as pension champions and recognising associations that reach enrolment targets.

4.      Protect contributors' money. All contributions must go directly from the worker's phone or bank to the pension administrator. No association, agent or official may collect or hold cash on a contributor's behalf, and doing so would be an offence. A simple complaints line would let contributors report problems.

5.      Make public contracts set the example. Firms bidding for Lagos State contracts would have to show they are compliant with their own pension obligations, so the state does not reward employers who leave their staff without cover.

6.      Partnership with PenCom and the industry. The state would work with PenCom, pension fund administrators and licensed pension agents on outreach, so the campaign speaks with one voice.

Implementation, research and measuring success

The law should start with a two-year pilot in a few large markets and motor parks, with a fixed budget for the matching contribution, before rolling out statewide. The match can be capped and time-limited to keep the cost predictable.

The pilot should be research-led. A partner organisation or research group would compare pilot and non-pilot areas and track:

•        new enrolments and the share of accounts actively contributing after 6 and 12 months

•        average contribution amounts and how often people pay

•        the cost of the matching contribution per active contributor

•        workers' trust in and understanding of the scheme, through short surveys

The House of Assembly would receive a yearly report and hold an oversight hearing before deciding on statewide rollout.

Objections to the Proposal

1.      Pensions are a federal matter. Regulation is federal, and this proposal leaves it untouched. Lagos would act only through its own spending, licensing and partnerships, all of which are within state powers.

2.      The state cannot afford to match contributions. The match is capped, time-limited and piloted on a fixed budget. It is also far cheaper than supporting a generation of destitute older residents later.

3.      Informal workers earn too little to save. The Micro Pension Plan accepts small, irregular payments, and its emergency withdrawal option means savings are not locked away when a crisis hits. Many informal workers already save through contribution groups; this offers a safer, regulated home for that habit.

Conclusion

Nigeria built a pension system that works well for the minority in formal jobs. The majority, including the people who sell, build, drive and repair in Lagos every day, are still outside it. The federal framework already exists. What is missing is the push that turns a voluntary scheme into a habit, and Lagos is best placed to provide it. By matching first contributions, enrolling people where they already are and protecting their money, Lagos can show the rest of the country how to bring retirement security to the informal economy.

Informal community security groups, like vigilantes, neighborhood watch, and traditional hunters' guilds, often work alongside formal police structures but with very little coordination or data sharing between them. This leads to duplicated effort, mutual mistrust, and real gaps in crime prevention, especially in peri-urban and rural local government areas.

The policy: I'm proposing a state-legislated Community-Police Partnership Framework that would do a few things. First, it would formally register and train informal security groups under a state oversight body, with clear rules of engagement and human rights training built in. Second, it would set up quarterly community-police forums at the LGA level, where residents, traditional leaders, and police divisional officers sit together to review local crime data and agree on priorities. Third, it would introduce a simple digital or USSD reporting channel so residents can report security concerns directly to both the police and registered community groups, closing the gap in response time. Finally, it would require an annual independent audit of community security group conduct, with continued state funding tied to passing that audit.

Why it matters: My undergraduate research in Fagge LGA, Kano found that informal and formal security actors often work at cross purposes simply because there's no structured coordination or shared legitimacy between them. This is likely a pattern repeated across many states in Nigeria. A legislated framework like this would turn an already existing community resource into a properly accountable, coordinated extension of state security policy, improving trust and crime prevention outcomes without requiring heavy new spending.

Through my passion for youth development, community engagement, and advocacy, as well as my Speak Up Initiative, I believe that empowering young people goes beyond encouraging them to speak. It also means equipping them with the knowledge and opportunities to make their voices count in governance. However, one question that boggles my mind constantly is this:

“How can young people influence decisions that affect their lives if they do not understand how those decisions are made?”

In Lagos State, young people have ideas, concerns, and solutions that deserve to be heard. However, meaningful participation in governance begins with access to the right information. When young people cannot easily understand proposed laws, legislative decisions, or the roles of their elected representatives, their ability to participate in shaping public policy is limited.

My Proposal

I propose that the Lagos State Government and the Lagos State House of Assembly strengthen youth-friendly access to legislative information through:

1. Simplified legislative information: Publish summaries of proposed bills, enacted laws, and legislative decisions in clear, everyday language that young people can understand.
2. Community-based civic education: Organise civic education sessions in schools, tertiary institutions, and local communities, particularly in underserved areas.
3. Youth-legislator engagement: Establish regular town halls where young people can ask questions, share community challenges, and engage directly with their elected representatives.
4. Digital participation channels: Create accessible platforms where young people can learn about legislative activities, submit policy ideas, and receive feedback from relevant institutions.

Why This Matters

Young people are affected by decisions concerning education, employment, healthcare, security, and the environment. Yet, without accessible legislative information, many may not know how these decisions are made or how to contribute to the process.

I believe that encouraging young people to speak up must go beyond telling them to use their voices. We must also equip them with the information they need to make those voices informed, constructive, and effective.

My vision is a Lagos State where young people are not merely spectators in governance but informed citizens who can engage their representatives, contribute ideas, and hold public institutions accountable.

Policy Idea: An Ogun Youth Education-to-Opportunity Policy

Education should not end with a certificate, it should prepare young people for meaningful opportunities. Ogun State has made efforts to strengthen education, digital learning and vocational skills through initiatives such as OGSERA, the Ogun State Skills Fund and the Gateway Skills Programme. However, there is an opportunity to build a stronger connection between what young people learn and the opportunities available to them after school. I propose an Ogun Youth Education-to-Opportunity Policy that integrates career guidance, practical experience and employment pathways into the state's education and youth-development systems. Under this policy, secondary schools and tertiary institutions would establish structured career-guidance programmes, supported by partnerships with local industries, businesses, public institutions and civil society organisations. Students would have access to career talks, mentorship, workplace visits, internships and practical projects relevant to their fields of interest. The policy should also provide accessible pathways for out-of-school youth and young people from low-income backgrounds through vocational training, apprenticeships, digital skills and entrepreneurship support. Opportunities should be communicated through a central, accessible platform, with transparent selection criteria and provisions for young people in rural communities and those with disabilities. Implementation could build on existing state programmes rather than create another overlapping agency. Government should set measurable targets, publish annual progress reports and track outcomes such as participation, completion of training, internship placements and transitions into employment or self-employment. My central argument is that education policy should measure not only how many young people enter school or complete training, but also how effectively they can apply what they learn and access opportunities afterward. Investing in this transition would help young people make informed career decisions, strengthen the link between education and the labour market, and enable Ogun State to develop a more skilled, confident and economically active generation.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an urgent public health concern, infections that were once treatable can become increasingly difficult to manage when the microorganisms causing them develop resistance to the medicines used against them. This threatens the effective treatment of infections, increases the risk of complications, and places additional pressure on healthcare systems. Although AMR requires action from governments, healthcare professionals, researchers, and the public, prevention must also begin with education.

I propose integrating age-appropriate AMR education into the school health system to help children understand the responsible use of antibiotics, the dangers of self-medication, and the importance of infection prevention and hygiene.

Children can be powerful channels of information within their families and communities. They often discuss what they learn in school with their friends and share new knowledge with their parents or guardians. Some children are particularly eager to tell their families about what they have learnt, creating opportunities for important conversations at home. As their understanding develops, they can also begin to question practices that contradict what they have been taught. A child who learns about the dangers of using antibiotics without appropriate medical guidance, for instance, may share that knowledge at home and encourage family members to seek proper medical advice.

Integrating AMR education into the school health system would therefore extend learning beyond the classroom and help spread accurate information across generations. Providing teachers with age-appropriate educational materials and practical guidance would support consistent delivery, while periodic assessment could help determine whether children understand and retain the information.

AMR cannot be addressed through awareness alone, but awareness is an important part of prevention. By introducing this education early and sustaining it through the school health system, we can equip children with knowledge that benefits them as they grow and potentially influences health practices within their households and communities.