INTERNATIONAL YOUTH DAY 2026, CALLS FOR COLLECTIVE ACTION AGAINST SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND OTHER YOUTH VICES

BENIN CITY, Edo State August 14, 2026: The Indomitable Youths Organization (IYO) has commemorated International Youth Day 2026 with a virtual stakeholder dialogue focused on the growing challenges confronting young people, particularly substance abuse, unemployment, crime, declining social values and hopelessness.

The virtual event, held via Zoom on Friday, August 14, 2026, brought together participants from Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Implementing Partners, Youth-led and youth-friendly organizations, and the media.

The programme was held under the theme, “Different Struggles, Same Dream: Breaking Free from Substance Abuse and Other Vices to Claim Our Future.”

The dialogue provided a platform for young people and stakeholders to examine the barriers increasingly standing between young people and their aspirations and to identify practical approaches to addressing these challenges within the Nigerian context.

In his opening remarks, the Executive Director of the Indomitable Youths Organization, Dr. Bright Oniovokukor said the commemoration was an opportunity to reflect on the aspirations of young people and the challenges threatening their future.

He noted that the global theme, “Different Contexts, Common Aspirations,” was particularly relevant to young people, stressing that while their circumstances may differ, their aspirations remain largely the same.

According to him, young people everywhere desire dignity, quality education, decent work and a future they can be proud of.

He, however, warned that substance abuse, drug addiction, crime, cyber fraud and hopelessness were among the forces threatening to deprive young people of these aspirations.

“These vices do not care about our context. They show up everywhere and they destroy the same things: potential, opportunities and voice,” he said.

Speaking during the discussion, Dr. Ifeanyi Obijiaku of the World Health Organization (WHO), Edo State, described substance abuse as an emerging public health concern requiring urgent community-level action.

He called on participants to become ambassadors and trainers within their communities by educating others about substance abuse and its consequences. According to him, substance abuse has already caused significant harm within communities and requires a coordinated response that includes prevention and community education.

Also speaking, Dr. Florence Gbinigie JP of Foundation Builders, who joined the discussion from the United States, called for greater investment in young people.

She observed that one of the challenges confronting young people was their difficulty in directing their potentials towards productive purposes and translating their abilities into meaningful opportunities.

“We have to invest in our youth,” she said, stressing that young people should be at the centre of interventions aimed at addressing the challenges confronting society.

Dr. Grace Oluwatoye of Life Builders NGO, Ibadan, called for stronger engagement with regulatory bodies to address the availability of harmful substances to young people. She stressed the need to sanitize the environment and intensify public education and reorientation among young people.

“We need to sanitize our environment, and we need to engage in very massive education and reorientation of the Nigerian youths,” she said.

Mrs. Blessing Eromon of CLEEN Foundation, Edo Office raised concerns about the increasing number of students and young people affected by substance abuse and the impact on their academic performance.

She called for the development of a clear and sustainable pathway for addressing the problem over the next two to three years.

Ayo Nefertiti Okotie of Neferok Development Initiative, Otu-Jeremi, Delta State, emphasized the need for parents to become more involved in preventing substance abuse among young people.

“We need to get parents involved in this,” she said, adding that parents have an important responsibility in addressing the challenges confronting young people.

Lion Kunbi Moriyike Adeloye NLCF, President, Lagos Unity Estate Lions Club, District 404B3 Nigeria, who is a psychologist and sociologist, challenged stakeholders to look beyond the symptoms of substance abuse and ask why young people engage in such behaviours.

“Why are youths doing it?” she asked, stressing that the responsibility for addressing the problem cannot be placed solely on government.

She noted that government, parents and teachers all have roles to play in supporting young people.

According to her, stakeholders should engage young people directly and ask them why they are engaging in substance abuse and other harmful behaviours in order to better understand the underlying causes and develop appropriate responses.

The discussion identified several interconnected concerns affecting young people, including increasing substance abuse, crime and cyber fraud, unemployment, idleness, hopelessness, declining social values, easy availability of harmful substances, inadequate parental involvement and insufficient attention to out-of-school young people.

Participants also identified systemic challenges including weak implementation of existing laws and policies, poor coordination among stakeholders, limited employment opportunities, inadequate public education, skills development without access to markets, negative role models and stigma against young people experiencing substance-related problems.

Participants stressed that addressing substance abuse should go beyond blaming or punishing young people.

They called for the issue to be approached as a public health, social, economic and governance concern, requiring coordinated intervention by government, parents, schools, communities, civil society organizations, regulatory agencies, the media, the private sector and young people themselves.

The meeting called for stronger public education and sustained awareness campaigns on substance abuse, with greater use of radio, social media, schools, community platforms and other channels capable of reaching young people.

Participants also advocated stronger enforcement of existing laws and policies, particularly measures aimed at addressing the availability, distribution and supply chains of harmful substances.

On unemployment and hopelessness, the dialogue emphasized that skills acquisition alone is not sufficient. Young people also need access to employment, markets, finance, patronage, mentorship and other opportunities that can enable them to translate their skills into sustainable livelihoods.

Participants further called for deliberate interventions targeting out-of-school and unemployed young people, who may be missed by conventional school-based programmes.

On involving the young people to be part of the solution, the participants advocated greater involvement of young people in designing and implementing programmes that affect them.

The discussion emphasized that:

“Young people should not only be treated as beneficiaries; they must be part of identifying the problems, designing the solutions and implementing the interventions.”

The meeting proposed the establishment of a multi-stakeholder youth substance abuse prevention coalition involving government, CSOs, health professionals, schools, parents, community leaders, media organizations and youth representatives.

Other recommendations included the creation of safe and productive spaces for young people, integration of substance abuse prevention and life-skills education into youth programmes and educational settings, promotion of positive values and responsible role modelling, youth-led advocacy, and adoption of a non-judgemental approach that supports prevention, early intervention, rehabilitation and reintegration.

The participants called for a follow-up mechanism to translate the outcomes of the International Youth Day dialogue into concrete actions with clearly identified stakeholders, timelines and measurable outcomes.

The discussion concluded with a call for collective responsibility in securing the future of young people.

Government was urged to strengthen policy implementation, regulation, enforcement and employment opportunities; parents and caregivers to provide guidance and positive role models; schools and communities to reinforce positive values; CSOs and development partners to support advocacy and empowerment; and the media to promote responsible public education.

The Indomitable Youths Organization reaffirmed that the objective should not merely be to prevent young people from using harmful substances, but to build a society where young people have hope, opportunity, dignity, purpose and meaningful pathways to achieve their aspirations.

The organization emphasized that while young people may face different struggles, they share the same dream, a future in which they can live with dignity, develop their potential and contribute meaningfully to society.

The International Youth Day 2026 dialogue therefore served as a call for sustained collective action beyond the annual commemoration, with stakeholders urged to work together to remove the systemic barriers preventing young people from claiming their future.