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The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is set to deploy technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to capture, analyse and organise ideas generated by young Nigerians participating in the maiden National Youth Conference 2026, with the aim of helping government translate their concerns and aspirations into policy proposals.
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The initiative is expected to create a structured digital channel through which young Nigerians can contribute to national policymaking, while enabling government to identify recurring concerns and policy priorities across different sectors of the economy.
NITDA to Digitise Youth Contributions
NITDA Director-General, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, disclosed the plan while delivering a goodwill message at the opening ceremony of the youth conference in Abuja.
Abdullahi described Nigerian youths as a strategic national asset and said the conference was designed to establish a more direct channel for young people to communicate their expectations, frustrations and ideas to government.
According to him, while social media platforms including X, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok have created powerful channels for youth expression, the sheer volume of online conversations makes it increasingly difficult to distinguish genuine aspirations and policy ideas from misinformation and other forms of digital noise.
He said the conference would therefore help government “filter the noise” and identify the genuine signals emerging from conversations among young Nigerians.
“It is a deliberate step to make sure your voices, your aspirations, your ideas are brought closer to the heart of national decision-making.”
Abdullahi said the engagement would enable the administration to better understand what young Nigerians expect from government in areas including economic development, job creation and technology.
AI to Analyse and Organise Youth Ideas
The NITDA DG announced that the Agency, working with the relevant ministry, would deploy technology to capture contributions from conference participants, while AI would be used to analyse and organise the submissions into thematic areas.
The resulting analysis would subsequently be presented to a committee to support its understanding of the issues raised by participants and contribute to the development of policy proposals.
The technology-driven approach is also expected to extend participation beyond young Nigerians physically attending the conference.
According to Abdullahi, remote participation would enable a wider pool of young people to contribute, ensuring that their views are not excluded simply because they are unable to attend sessions in person.
He said AI would provide an opportunity to capture and interpret contributions from a broader segment of the youth population and identify common themes emerging from the engagement.
NITDA Promises End-to-End Technology Support
Abdullahi assured participants that their contributions would be digitally captured, analysed and preserved, creating a traceable pathway through which ideas generated at the conference could feed into the policy process.
NITDA DG Abdullahi
“I want to assure you that all your discussions will be captured, and the technology will keep it, and we will present it to the committee, and government will use that to turn your aspirations into ideas, ideas into proposals, proposals into policies for government to build the policies you want.”
He said NITDA would remain involved throughout the process and provide technology support “end to end”.
The Agency, he added, would also seek to ensure that the technology-enabled engagement was conducted openly and transparently.
National Youth Conference Targets Six Policy Areas
The National Youth Conference 2026 is structured around six broad areas covering governance and political participation; entrepreneurship and job creation; climate action and energy transition; education and future-ready skills; technology and digital innovation; and security and social cohesion.
The initiative is designed to attract participation from young Nigerians across the country’s 360 federal constituencies, the six geopolitical zones and the diaspora.
The six geopolitical zones are scheduled to hold dedicated virtual sessions over 12 days from October 5 to 17, 2026, with NITDA providing technical support.
The virtual component is intended to broaden participation and provide young Nigerians across different locations with an avenue to contribute to the national conversation.
Youth Voices Positioned as Input for Policy Development
The opening ceremony was attended by the Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, who led other dignitaries including the Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier-General Olakunle Nafiu; National President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Akinteye Hafeez; representatives of academia; and representatives of Commissioners of Youth Development from the 36 states of the federation.
The NITDA-backed technology framework positions the National Youth Conference as more than a conventional consultative forum, with digital tools and AI being used to create a structured pipeline for capturing youth perspectives and feeding them into government policy considerations.
The initiative also reflects the growing role of AI in government efforts to process large volumes of citizen feedback and identify actionable themes for public policy.
