A new wave of environmental and social advocacy is sweeping through the youth of Lagos, as over 500 students from more than 32 international schools across the city recently gathered to champion the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The student-led conference, organised by the Association of International School Educators of Nigeria (AISEN), marks a pivotal moment in the campaign for a more sustainable future, placing the reins of change firmly in the hands of the generation poised to inherit the planet.
Held within the premises of the Government Secretariat in Alausa, the inaugural AISEN Student-Led SDG Conference themed “Lend Your Voice,” was a deliberate call to empower young leaders, encouraging them to engage deeply with the SDGs and foster a spirit of innovation and advocacy that goes beyond classroom walls.
Executive Chairperson of AISEN, Adeola Arofin, articulated the profound vision behind the initiative, describing the conference not merely as an event but as a clear call to action.
“Can you imagine a world where everyone is acutely attuned and responsive to their role as a preserver of the planet? As educators, school leaders, and community builders, we have a responsibility to create spaces where young people can amplify their voices, share their ideas, and lead with impact. With this conference, we did just that.”
The importance of the youth-led movement was not lost on the Lagos State Government. Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on SDGs, Dr. Oreoluwa Finnih, lauded the students’ initiative, commending their proactive engagement.
“It is important for students to learn about the SDGs, and it is highly commendable that this is student-led. To push for this type of conference also means that they want to partner, they want to spread the word on SDGs.”
“It involves keeping the environment clean, reducing emissions, ensuring people have fair and conducive workplaces, making sure that we plant and other practical measures that the government continues to execute every day,” Dr. Finnih stated.
The genesis of this ambitious project, as revealed by Vice Chairman of AISEN, Mrs. Kofo Karunwi, dates back to AISEN’s 20th-anniversary celebrations in 2024, with the SDGs being a central theme.
She explained that during those engagements, the idea of taking the SDG conversation further, directly involving the students, began to develop. “Over time, we discovered that some schools were more active on SDG than others.”
This observation led to the call for ten volunteer schools to actively collaborate and ultimately organise the conference. She noted that the entire event was organised by the students themselves, with teachers primarily offering support.
“The more our children get exposed to these things, the more it becomes real to them and part of their lives,” she added.
AISEN SDG Director, Ms. Eseoghene Okotie, shared her perspective on the urgency of students’ involvement in SDGs.
“We realised that in Nigeria, we can’t meet up with the SDGs in 2030. The best way we can accelerate SDGs is to start training the younger ones so that by the time they are our age, they will be running with the Goals and working with it,” Ms. Okotie asserted.
While over a hundred AISEN schools were invited to participate at the project’s inception, it was the dedicated efforts of seven schools, including Dowen College, Temple School, Grange School, Avi-Cenna International School, Julliard Academy, Greenville School, and Neander International School, that made the impactful conference possible.
