By Bala Dauda, Damaturu
No fewer than 200 young innovators from the six North-East states have showcased Artificial intelligence (AI)-driven solutions to address governance and service delivery challenges in their communities.
The innovations were showcased at the North-East Youth Idea Summit held in Damaturu, Yobe, on Saturday, with the theme : “Transforming Nigeria’s Local Governance : Harnessing AI and Youth Innovation for Transparency.”
The summit, organised by the Spotlight for Transparency and Accountability Initiative, Spotlight, highlighted the impact of youth-led civic innovations supported with small grants.
Speaking at the event, Spotlight’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Mu’azu Modu, said 25 youths were earlier selected as civic innovation awardees by Dr Kole Shettima Fellowship.
He added that each awardee received a 100-dollar seed grant to implement community-based project and developed innovative digital solutions that recorded significant impact in their respective communities,
“We gave them seed funding, and they developed outstanding digital systems. These young people have demonstrated that dedication and innovation can achieve remarkable results with limited resources,” he said.
Modu said the fellowship subsequently supported the 25 innovators to implement local projects, and four winners of the innovation challenge emerged and received grants of N500,000 each to develop advanced digital platforms.
He listed the digital platforms to include budget tracking applications designed to promote transparency in public spending and healthcare applications used in supporting access to basic medical services in underserved communities.
Others were “Civic Play” interactive games developed to educate young people on civic responsibilities and community engagement.
The Spotlight CEO also noted that the summit continued to inspire youth participation, adding that two participants from the previous edition later secured fellowships and returned this year to showcase successful projects.
In his remarks, Mr Richard Chidibere, Grants Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Nigeria Youth Futures Fund (NYFF), said the summit featured Bayani, an AI tool developed by the fellows under the initiative.
Chidibere explained that the NYFF fund, an initiative of LEAP Africa supported by the MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation and Luminate, provided funding and technical support for the civic innovation projects.
According to him, the AI tool was conceived and developed by young innovators trained across the six North-East states after receiving grants to address local governance challenges.
“The projects demonstrate the creativity and resilience of young people in the North-East. They also project the region positively by showcasing its growing capacity for civic participation and technology-driven solutions,” he said.
The summit also brought together government officials, development partners and youth leaders to deliberate on practical approaches to improving transparency, accountability and governance through innovation across the North-East.