11-year old Nigerian Receives Standing Ovation at UN Conference on the Rule of Law

"The future of children is in the hands of parents, leaders and policymakers. I plead with you to join hands together to make our world a better, safer and more inclusive space." In October 2019, 11-year-old Naomi Oloyede's words against corruption and crime received a standing ovation from 350 educators, academics, policymakers, experts and Member States representatives gathered at UNODC Headquarters in Vienna for the International High-Level Conference "Educating for the Rule of Law: Inspire Change Together".

Naomi, a Junior Secondary School pupil at Abuja's Battle Axe Academy, is passionate about using creative arts to advocate for social change. Particularly engaged in the fight against corruption, she was enrolled in the pilot programme of UNODC's Education for Justice (E4J) tools in Nigeria. Very vocal in the group discussions on Emeka's Money book, Naomi participated in a debate session opposing the motion that 'As a young person, there was nothing she could do to fight corruption'. It was from that debate that she was selected as one of Step Up Nigeria's Young Anti-corruption Champions and an E4J champion.