Engagement MYSD, Femi BalogunAcross Lagos, more than 35 youth centres have been established as important community assets for young people. These centres represent a significant public investment in young people and provide an opportunity to create spaces where youth can learn, connect, innovate, and access the support they need to thrive. While these centres provide a strong foundation, there is now an opportunity to reimagine and strengthen their role so they can better respond to the evolving aspirations, needs, and realities of today’s youth.
The Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development (MYSD), under the leadership of the Honourable Commissioner, Mobolaji Abubakre Ogunlende, and the Permanent Secretary, Pharm. (Mrs.) Toyin Oke-Osanyintolu, is advancing a different vision for youth development in the state. Through the newly established Technical Working Group (TWG) on Youth Engagement, the Ministry is moving beyond occasional programs toward supporting community-based centres where young people can gather, learn, access opportunities, build relationships, and transition with dignity and support in safe spaces around their communities.
At the center of this effort is a simple but powerful idea: young people in Lagos must feel that they belong to the state, and that the state belongs to them. This matters deeply in a city as large, and fast-moving as Lagos. With more than 70 percent of its population under 35, Lagos is one of the world’s youngest urban centers. Yet many young people continue to navigate unemployment, insecurity, exclusion, mental health pressures, weak support systems, and limited access to trusted institutions. Too often, young people encounter government only through regulation, policing, or political rhetoric, not through spaces of care, opportunity, creativity, or co-creation.
