By| Goodluck E.Adubazi, Abuja
Stakeholders at the fifth Gender and Inclusion Summit (GS26) have called for urgent action to bridge the gap between policy commitments and the realities faced by Nigerians at the grassroots, insisting that development must translate into tangible improvements in people’s everyday lives.
The call was made at the two-day summit organised by the Policy Innovation Centre (PIC) in Abuja on September 8 and 9, 2026, with the theme, “From Agenda to Action: Making Innovations Count for the Last Mile.”
The summit brought together senior government officials, policymakers, development partners, private-sector leaders and other stakeholders, including the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hon. Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim.
Delivering the keynote address, President of the National Assembly of Côte d’Ivoire and former Prime Minister of Côte d’Ivoire, Patrick Achi, said inclusion should no longer be treated as an additional component of development but as its foundation.
“Inclusion is not a social supplement to development. Inclusion is development,” Achi said.
He described the “last mile” as the point where development becomes meaningful to ordinary citizens, noting that it is where women entrepreneurs gain access to capital, farmers connect to modern value chains, young people access opportunities and citizens engage directly with government.
According to him, “The last mile is not where development ends. It is where development becomes real.”
Executive Director of the Policy Innovation Centre, Dr Osasuyi Dirisu, challenged policymakers and development actors to assess whether innovations and solutions are actually reaching the communities for which they were designed.
“Do our solutions travel as far as the infrastructure goes, or do they stop?” she asked.
Dirisu identified policy, partnership, infrastructure, financing, coordination, ownership and adaptation as critical factors required to translate policies and innovations into impact, particularly at the local government, ward and community levels.
Similarly, Chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Niyi Yusuf, challenged stakeholders to examine whether commitments made over the years were producing measurable outcomes for the people most in need.
“The question this fifth edition of the summit places before us is a harder one: are these commitments reaching the people who need them the most?” Yusuf asked.
The summit also featured the pre-launch of the Gender Legislative Agenda for Africa, the launch of the Nigerian Youth Dream Charter and the SWOLE (Strengthening Women’s Leadership in Academic Economics) Policy Transformation Toolkit.
It also unveiled findings from the Nigerian Survey on Gender Norms, Attitudes, Health and Wellbeing, described as Nigeria’s first nationally representative data on the social and gender norms shaping adolescents’ health and wellbeing.
The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Adekunle Salako, who chaired the National Dialogue on Transforming Gender Norms for Adolescent Health and Wellbeing, urged stakeholders to use the survey and dialogue as a catalyst for building a more equitable and inclusive health system.
“Let this dialogue be more than a conversation. Let it be a catalyst for change,” Salako said.
Chairman of the PIC Board, Udeme Ufot, said the responsibility of stakeholders extends beyond generating ideas and making policy commitments to ensuring that such commitments are implemented, scaled and experienced by citizens.
“Our task is not only to develop good ideas and make commitments, but to ensure that they are implemented, scaled and experienced in people’s everyday lives,” Ufot said.
He added that the outcomes and recommendations from GS26 would be documented in the Purple Book to support continued policy engagement, advocacy and accountability beyond the summit.
The summit, attended by prominent personalities including Chairperson of the Nigeria Governors’ Spouses Forum and First Lady of Kwara State, Ambassador Professor Olufolake AbdulRazaq; Co-founder of Amandla Institute for Policy and Leadership Advancement and former First Lady of Ekiti State, Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi; Director, Nigeria Office, MacArthur Foundation, Dr Kole A. Shettima; and Managing Director, DGA–Albright Stonebridge Group, Jonathan Eigege, concluded with a renewed call for stakeholders to move beyond agenda-setting.
Participants urged governments, development partners, the private sector and civil society to ensure that policies, innovations and investments deliver measurable and sustainable improvements in the lives of people and communities at the last mile.
