The Re-Awakening Nigeria Project
The Re-Awakening Nigeria is the flagship program of HACDI Africa. Curated and Hosted by Co-Conveners Emmanuel Effiong and George Ugwuja, the initiative serves as a non-partisan, judgment-free platform dedicated to fostering nation-building by mobilizing Nigeria’s greatest asset: its youth.
Our Reach
Calling every young Nigerian to "get to work" for the nation they deserve.
The program was established as a response to the paradox of the "African Giant," where young Nigerians excel globally in academia, tech, entertainment, and entrepreneurship, yet remain largely underrepresented in the rooms where national policy is decided. By emphasizing "politeracy" (political literacy), the initiative aims to shift the national mindset from personality-driven politics to issue-based governance. Through its multidimensional approach, combining high-level professional dialogues with grassroots town halls, the project ensures that the drive for systemic reform is not just an elite conversation, but a collective movement that includes women, persons with disabilities, and those in underserved rural communities.
Core Objectives
Youth Engagement
To mobilize young Nigerians across all spheres of endeavor, irrespective of ethnicity, religion, or economic status, to contribute to the overriding national interest.
Political Literacy
To move the conversation from personality-based politics to issue- and
policy-based engagement through voter education and "politeracy"
Inclusive Dialogue
To create a safe space for difficult conversations on topics critical to
sustainable growth, including gender equity, inclusion of persons with disabilities, and religious harmony.
The Vision
The program is built on a singular, powerful conviction: "Nigeria Must Work, Nigeria Can Work, and Nigeria Will Work… But only when We All Work!” Recognizing that over 65% of the population is aged 35 or younger, The Re-Awakening Nigeria seeks to bridge the gap between youth excellence in private industries, such as tech, enterprise, medicine, creative economy, profession, entertainment, and the arts, and their active participation in the country’s political and national development.
Program Format
The initiative delivers its message through three distinct engagement pillars:
1. Professional Deep-Dives: One-on-one conversations with young Nigerian professionals on leveraging their expertise for public good.
2. Topical Panel Sessions: Multi-perspective dialogues on ethnic relations, education, climate action, and inclusion.
3. Grassroots Town Halls: Community-level outreach focused on civic responsibility, policy orientation, and understanding the role of the citizen in a democracy.
1. Professional Deep-Dives: One-on-one conversations with young Nigerian professionals on leveraging their expertise for public good.
2. Topical Panel Sessions: Multi-perspective dialogues on ethnic relations, education, climate action, and inclusion.
3. Grassroots Town Halls: Community-level outreach focused on civic responsibility, policy orientation, and understanding the role of the citizen in a democracy.
Project Impact & Reach
Launched in 2022 during an inflection point in Nigeria’s democratic journey, The Re-Awakening Nigeria has moved beyond theoretical discourse to achieve tangible results at the grassroots level. By focusing on communities with historically low voter turnout and high technical barriers, the project has successfully bridged the gap between civic responsibility and active participation.
1Community Engagement & Direct Impact
The project’s pilot sensitization and voter education exercises in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)
yielded significant quantitative results:
• Direct Beneficiaries: 170 individuals were direct participants in sensitization exercises, receiving political literacy and policy advocacy training.
• Voter Registration Support: The team established a mobile facility to overcome internet and technical barriers, facilitating pre-registration for over 100 community members.
• Follow-up & Retention: Collected contact data for 125 persons to provide ongoing support and ensure they successfully completed biometric capturing at INEC offices.
• Direct Youth Dialogue: Engaged 120 youth in the Lugbe community through interactive town hall sessions focused on identifying peculiar community challenges.
• Direct Beneficiaries: 170 individuals were direct participants in sensitization exercises, receiving political literacy and policy advocacy training.
• Voter Registration Support: The team established a mobile facility to overcome internet and technical barriers, facilitating pre-registration for over 100 community members.
• Follow-up & Retention: Collected contact data for 125 persons to provide ongoing support and ensure they successfully completed biometric capturing at INEC offices.
• Direct Youth Dialogue: Engaged 120 youth in the Lugbe community through interactive town hall sessions focused on identifying peculiar community challenges.
2 Indirect Impact & Scalability
• Community Outreach: Through peer-to-peer messaging and community leadership engagement, the project reached an estimated 1,500 indirect beneficiaries in the Lugbe community alone.
• Geographic Focus: Targeted interventions in high-priority areas like Lugbe, Kuje, and Bwari, which were identified by INEC as having the lowest registration statistics in the FCT.
3 Policy Advocacy & The 2023 Elections
The project served as a vital platform for youth to voice concerns that directly influenced policy dialogues:
• Electoral Integrity: Focused heavily on mitigating electoral violence and voter disenfranchisement, particularly for persons with disabilities and the elderly, by training youth to act as "process guides" in their units. This was evidenced by the widely reported resistance to electoral fraud in Lugbe, with the community center used for the HACDI Africa town hall being one of the flashpoints.
• Cost of Governance: Facilitated critical discussions on the high cost of political participation, specifically highlighting the barrier created by 100 million Naira nomination forms, advocating for more accessible entry points for young leaders.
• Electoral Integrity: Focused heavily on mitigating electoral violence and voter disenfranchisement, particularly for persons with disabilities and the elderly, by training youth to act as "process guides" in their units. This was evidenced by the widely reported resistance to electoral fraud in Lugbe, with the community center used for the HACDI Africa town hall being one of the flashpoints.
• Cost of Governance: Facilitated critical discussions on the high cost of political participation, specifically highlighting the barrier created by 100 million Naira nomination forms, advocating for more accessible entry points for young leaders.