Investing in Youth Leadership in Nigeria
Adedola Olunloyo
Sexual Health Exchange

Action Health Incorporated (AHI) is a Nigerian NGO dedicated to the promotion of adolescent health and development. AHI is an advocate and catalyst for change regarding the poor status of adolescents' wellbeing, by increasing public awareness and implementing innovative education, health-care and youth development programmes. For AHI, empowering youth for leadership roles in sexual and reproductive health is an integral part of youth development. Youth leadership work starts with the belief that it is worth investing in young people's potential: creating opportunities for youth to develop basic skills to effect positive changes in their lives, communities and society at large.

The many cultural and religious inhibitions on sexuality in Nigerian society make it challenging for AHI to work with the communities and get them to accept our work. NGOs also still require special permission from government to carry out sex education in schools, which requires a lot of sensitisation. AHI's plans were just approved last year and a school curriculum is ready for the teachers. AHI often has to start all over again with changes of power. In 1994, for instance, AHI was closed down because the government believed its activities encouraged promiscuity among young people. The youth centre only reopened after a lot of lobbying.

Investing in youth leadership

AHI develops youth leadership in sexual health through various programmes using facilitation, information and health education as its main strategies. In 1993, AHI initiated the Youth Skills Development Programme. This programme employs 16- to 20-year-old youth who have finished secondary school and are awaiting admission to university for one year, as youth programme assistants (interns), alongside adult staff members. The programme helps them develop skills to become healthy and responsible youths and adults. Young people work in all five AHI units:

• the advocacy unit, which organises community outreach programmes and activities;
• the IEC unit, which provides information to young people through centre-based group discussions and school-based outreach programmes; 
• the resource and documentation unit, which provides educational and research materials about sexuality to young people, such as the quarterly newsletter "Growing Up"; 
• the health services unit, which operates a youth clinic for young people aged 10-21 years and provides health education, counselling and referral services on reproductive health issues; 
• the vocational skills unit, which provides training to young people in different vocational skills to enable them to be independent.

The interns participate in training workshops, seminars and international programmes on sexuality. Since they are present in every unit, they attend to their peers who visit the centre, facilitate group discussions and take guests on guided tours of AHI's youth centre facilities. These young people are seen as leaders in their communities and inspire their peers to acquire factual information on sexuality issues.
Students are also trained as peer educators to run AHI's school-based Health and Life Planning Clubs. Since 1992, these Clubs have trained more than 600 students as peer educators in sex education in 34 secondary schools in two local government areas. Club activities include group discussions, quiz competitions and an annual Teens' Day celebration, which brings together students from various schools.

Media and public events

Youth Forum, a programme which gets free air time on Lagos Weekend TV, allows young people to act as leaders and role models, reaching out to their peers on various issues. Viewers can call in to ask questions and make contributions, a challenge to the youth programme presenter's knowledge about the issues. Callers constantly come up with a variety of questions and views that may not necessarily concur with the presenters' views. Youth Forum has allowed young people to win the confidence of adults and trust from their peers. In a society where people still frown upon talking about sexuality, it is stimulating to have young people tackle concerns related to growing up on television.

AHI has organised many other activities to promote adolescents' wellbeing and development. Young people are involved in the annual Teenage Festival of Life's planning committee from the very beginning: they decide the theme of the year's activities and work hard to ensure the programme's success. As masters of ceremony for the programme, the youth determine how the programme flows. As with other AHI activities, young people themselves evaluate the entire process and look for ways to improve the coming year's celebration. They usually feel fulfilled when they have planned and implemented a successful programme with very little adult intervention.

Challenges for youth leadership 

Cultural and religious inhibitions on sexuality remain a big challenge to AHI's work. Continuous advocacy, sensitisation and outreach are needed to maintain the support of the community, government and other stakeholders, and to clear the misconceptions about sex education to young people. Without a doubt, youth leadership is essential for the development and well-being of young people worldwide. Every young person has a special gift and it is left to us as individuals to find out what that gift is and help each young person make the best of it. In that way we are preparing adolescents to take charge of their lives and grow up to be responsible and productive adults. The key message is to believe in young people and provide them with opportunities to take up leadership roles.