By John Ikani
Policy Shapers, a youth-led organization that specializes in public policy ideation, dialogue and advocacy, has perfected plans to host a policy hackathon in Nigeria themed – #NaijaPolicyHack.
Announcing the policy hackathon in a statement made available to newsmen, the founder of policy shapers, Ebenezar Wikina, said the #NaijaPolicyHack scheduled to start from Friday, August 12, to Sunday, August 14, 2022, would see no fewer than 200 young people from across Nigeria converge online to find solutions to critical development challenges plaguing the country.
“We strongly believe that young people are the missing stakeholder group on the policy table despite the fact that their lives and future are most-affected by policy outcomes,” said Mr. Wikina.
“At Policy Shapers, we strive to inspire the next generation of policymakers and provide them a platform to share their ideas and collaborate for change. In the course of this hackathon, we will see a situation where a young person from Kano or Bauchi will work with peers from Enugu or Ondo to develop policy ideas,” he asserted.
According to the statement, teams of 4 will compete during the hackathon for a cash prize of up to 200,000 naira with the overall winner taking home 100,000 naira.
It went on to add that the keynote address at the Hackathon will be delivered by Dr. Tayo Aduloju, Senior Fellow, Economic Policy, Strategy & Competitiveness, and Chief Operating Officer at the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG).
Other speakers scheduled to speak at the weekend-long event include Cynthia Mbamalu, co-founder of YIAGA Africa, Wale Ajiboye, Country Director of Change.org and Odeh Friday, Country Director, Accountability Lab. The Chief Judge for the hackathon is Oluseun Onigbide, Global Director of BudgIT, and he will be supported by Bella Anne Ndubuisi, Hazmat Lawal, Jennifer Uchendu, and Nnamdi Ifechi-Fred.
In other efforts, Policy Shapers continues to lead the #ReformIELTS campaign, which it started in October 2021, seeking the exemption of Nigerians and other Anglo-Africans from English proficiency tests.
Its petition to the UK Home Secretary, Priti Patel, has now been signed by almost 80,000 people. As a result of this advocacy, a growing number of foreign universities and institutions around the world have now exempted English-speaking Africans from English tests.
The advocacy has also earned the endorsement of Nigeria’s Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.
