By Aneh Gabriel
By Ameh Gabriel
YENAGOA, BAYELSA STATE, NIGERIA – 12 August 2025 – Marking a significant stride in empowering young Nigerians as drivers of sustainable peace, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in partnership with the Bayelsa State Government and with generous support from the Government of Denmark, today launched the Youth Peace Champions programme in Bayelsa State. This strategic expansion brings a proven, youth-led peacebuilding model, celebrated for its impact in North-East Nigeria, to the Niger Delta region for the first time.
Rooted in the conviction that sustainable peace must be people-led and youth-powered, the Youth Peace Champions initiative is a grassroots movement. It equips young people with essential tools, specialized training, mentorship, and influential platforms to become effective peacebuilders and positive changemakers within their own communities.
Implemented under the project “Strengthening the Niger Delta Peace Architecture using Community-based Crime and Violence Prevention Strategies” (funded by Denmark), the Bayelsa launch directly aligns with the state’s pioneering youth policy. It stands as a potential blueprint for youth-led transformation across Nigeria.
Investing in Youth, Building Resilient Communities
Building on documented successes in the North-East, where 32 Youth Peace Champions reached over 9 million people with campaigns like #SeeTheChild, UNODC is adapting its methodology to Bayelsa’s unique context. A diverse cohort of 25 young leaders has been meticulously selected from five communities: Otuan, Ekeremor, Ikebiri 1, Ekowe, and Ayamasa. This group, representing both formal and informal sectors, includes 13 females (one with a disability) and 12 males.
These champions will undergo intensive training in peacebuilding, crime and drug use prevention, future-forward skills, creative communication, and emerging trends. Crucially, they will be mentored by established leaders across various sectors who share UNODC’s core belief: peace must be youth-led and locally driven. Beyond advocacy, they will serve as visible community role models, fostering social cohesion, driving positive change, and promoting self-reliance through inclusive, sustainable, community-owned actions.
The programme was inaugurated during the International Youth Day commemoration jointly hosted by UNODC and the Bayelsa State Government in Yenagoa.
Mr. Cheikh Toure, UNODC Country Representative for Nigeria, stated: “The theme for this year’s International Youth Day, ‘Local Youth Actions for the SDGs and Beyond,’ underscores the perfect timing of this inauguration. We are equipping these young people not merely with skills but with a powerful platform to amplify their voices, propose solutions, and stand as beacons of hope for their peers. This is not charity. It is not tokenism. It is a vital investment in leadership, in resilient communities, and in the peaceful, prosperous Nigeria we collectively envision. The Bayelsa Youth Peace Champions now join a growing national movement, spanning geopolitical zones and cultures, united by a common purpose: to reclaim peace and rebuild futures.”
His Excellency, Hon Alfred Kemepado, Commissioner for Youth, Bayelsa State, emphasized: “On this International Youth Day, we stand united with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to ignite a movement, one that empowers our young people to become torchbearers of peace and leadership. The inauguration of the Youth Peace Champions is more than a program; it is a call to action. It is a bold statement that the voices, courage, and vision of our youth will shape the destiny of Bayelsa, of Nigeria, and of the world. Together, we are raising a generation that will not only dream of peace but will defend it, live it, and lead it.”
This initiative directly supports the implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace, and Security, emphasizing the critical need for inclusive, localized approaches in fragile contexts.
With rising interest from other Nigerian states, UNODC extends an invitation to strategic partners. Supporting the scaling of this transformative, evidence-based model offers an opportunity to promote peace, prevent crime, foster youth livelihoods, and create a powerful ripple effect of hope across Nigeria, CHAMPION by CHAMPION.
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