When the indigenous youth-led nonprofit, Connected Development, popularly known as CODE, received Nigeria’s Minister of Youth Development, Comrade Ayodele Olawande, last week, what became apparent at the end of the two-hour dialogue that followed was that this young minister may have finally cracked the code of the Nigerian youth question, lucidly encapsulated in CODE’s Chief Executive, Hamzat Lawal’s words, “Nigerian youth are navigating a paradox. On one hand, we are pioneering innovation across various industries. On the other hand, structural inequalities undermine our contributions to democracy.”

There are many reasons for coming to this conclusion. The first is Olawande’s age. One may assume that the first contradiction in youth participation in politics is in the persona of whoever is saddled with the governmental toga of ‘Minister of Youth’. Before now, we had seen several youth ministers who were not youth in any sense of the word. The current minister is in his thirties and looks every bit the part.

I vividly remember my experience as part of a youth delegation that paid a courtesy call to a serving Minister of Youth more than a decade ago. Many of us were young Nigerians burning with a green and nationalistic zeal, trying to make a difference. We were to brief the minister on our ideas on how to integrate the youth in the creation of green jobs, capitalising on the vast human and natural potential of the country. Our team was complete with civil society actors, entertainers, journalists and young entrepreneurs. Alas, the Minister of Youth was not on the same page with us, basically because he was not young. In fact, it was as if we were talking over his head, and I bet he was wondering how we were able to secure an appointment to enter his office. At some point, I could swear he dozed off while we discussed.

Today, we can tell a different story. At the CODE-convened roundtable, which I attended, the youth minister waltzed into the Community Park 15 minutes before the scheduled time; and walked side by side with his host, Hamzat Lawal, popularly known as Hamzy, on a tour of the facility, which housed workstations manned by young people from all parts of the country.

The minister’s state of mind was visible in his mien, for he was at home with his peers. Political officeholders are usually uncomfortable among civil society players. But not this one, and definitely not today. Trust Hamzy, some of the most active young development workers and social entrepreneurs were invited to Community Park, and they all showed up to regale the young minister with the immersive work they were doing for their country as innovators, youth leaders and activists.

That brings me to the second point: the minister is talking to the people that matter. Hamzy is a globally recognised social accountability activist who has been decorated with several local and international awards for the work he is doing, especially in tracking government spending. The flagship programme he founded, Follow the Money, is now active in nine other African countries, mobilising tens of thousands of young people at the grassroots level to track and advocate for the proper utilisation of funds in government and international interventions in their communities.

He was also one of the key drivers of the #NotTooYoungToRun campaign, which became a global movement and saw to the bill being assented into law by former President Muhammadu Buhari on May 31, 2018, altering sections 65, 106, 131, and 177 of the Constitution of Nigeria and effectually reducing the age of running for elective positions for the House of Assembly and House of Representative, Senate and governorship and office of the president.

Needless to say, the Hamzy effect could be visibly seen in the ensuing engagements. The people who mattered in the youth sector were on hand to receive Comrade Olawande, among them the Nigerian Young Professionals Forum of Nigeria, led by its president, David Osadolor. Watching these young Nigerians interact with the current Minister of Youth made me wish there was some way Olawande could be taken back to when I was an active actor in the sector. There were a lot of green dreams that never came to fruition because there was no government force to give them the needed push. The more reason I sincerely hope that the fire ignited by Hamzy and his team will never be allowed to be smothered.

The CODE boss outlined four key proposals for governments tackling the youth question. He suggested harmonising youth policies across the subnational governments to align with national priorities; expanding the current $10bn Federal Capital Territory Youth Fund into a $100bn national fund using a public-private funding model; institutionalising quarterly dialogues between youth and the government to boost accountability; and mobilising young leaders at the grassroots level, especially in faith-based communities, to promote development messages and climate action. He also called for full implementation of the 2025 Youth Agenda, which focuses on access to capital, job creation, empowerment, technological skills development, and inclusive governance.

The third point is that the minister is taking the fight to the frontlines. In a country where politicians are afraid to engage civil society, it was quite refreshing seeing a political figure smoothly interacting with this critical sector. He came to their offices, patiently listened to them, took notes and began to address the issues they raised.

This is a paradigm that could be replicated across all sectors. Civil society groups help to bring about the interests of citizens and individuals, but tend to act independently of government institutions and businesses. This may have to change because a large chunk of government projects is executed with development partners’ funds. In other words, we live in a peculiar society where the inclusion of civil society is crucial in the governance process.

The fourth point is that the minister looked and sounded believable. Insisting that he was still a ‘comrade’, he told the story of his humble beginning, which made it easy to communicate the philosophy behind some of President Bola Tinubu’s youth-friendly policies, like the Nigerian Education Loan Fund. Olawande explained that legal hurdles to initiating the proposed national youth development bank had been resolved, emphasising the need for secure and inclusive platforms for young Nigerians to access financing.

I, too, am a believer in the core importance of a youth bank that would enable young entrepreneurs and innovators to be empowered in a way that reduces bottlenecks on the road to production. In a properly managed youth bank, young people are the decision-makers, focusing on issues that truly matter to them. The institution then provides financial structures where funds and funding mechanisms are run by young people to support youth-led projects that address issues important to young people with the purpose of improving their communities.

In fact, the boldness of the Tinubu-led government in creating the youth bank must be commended because politicians had left the youths without proper empowerment over the years. The absence of young people from decision-making within their hometowns can be rectified by entrusting them with the money, and this will change the entire political dynamics and effectively restructure the country’s leadership recruitment process. When the money they will be using is a mechanism to bring the change they want to see in their communities, anything is possible. Perhaps, this holds the key to solving the problems identified by the Minister of Youth, when he lamented, “Nigerian youth are the best in tech, entertainment, education, and agriculture, yet we’re still hungry.”