YouthDesk.ai Launches in Lagos: Stakeholders Push for Responsible AI Use in Governance

A new artificial intelligence-powered youth development platform, YouthDesk.ai, was unveiled in Lagos, an event that brought together young leaders, policymakers and other stakeholders under the theme, “Leveraging AI in Youth Governance for a Greater Lagos.” The programme, held at Worksphere by Eridan, Alausa, Ikeja, examined how emerging technology can be used to strengthen youth participation, leadership and governance across the state.
 

YouthDesk.ai was founded by Alabi Opeyemi, Senior Special Assistant on Youth Mobilisation to Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu. The platform has been positioned as an “opportunity infrastructure” created to address the difficulty many young people face in discovering credible opportunities and accessing the information and support required to benefit from them. It brings together opportunities in employment, scholarships, internships, grants, fellowships, entrepreneurship, skills development, and training. Among its key features is AI Padi, which uses artificial intelligence to provide personalised guidance and help young people navigate the resources available to them.
 

Beyond the unveiling, the event featured panel sessions on how artificial intelligence can influence the youth, with discussions covering the use of technology in governance, access to opportunities, data protection and the need for young people to acquire skills beyond simply owning digital devices.

Speaking on the balance between technology and governance, Barrister Damilola Marshal stated, “There should be balance between technology and governance. Laws should not be rigid as technology keeps changing,” and advised that people should seek the help of experts to understand the use of technology.
 

Also speaking at the event was Hon. M.I. Ali Balogun, who emphasised that owning smartphones and other gadgets alone does not automatically translate to effective use of technology, noting, “Having smartphones/gadgets is not enough but being able to leverage and learn.”
 

The panel further considered the use of data to detect whether the same individuals are repeatedly benefiting from available opportunities, with participants stressing the importance of ensuring that opportunities are spread among more young people rather than recurring to the same beneficiaries. On this, Hon. Lekan Bilalu Oba, noted that technology helped with data detection.

“Making sure that the same people are not the ones getting opportunities over and over again.”
 

Discussions also turned to data privacy, with Barrister Pearl Baker, explaining how some artificial intelligence applications allow users to determine whether their data can be used to train the applications’ models. She also raised concerns about Nigeria’s record on data handling, stressing that information obtained for a particular purpose should only be used for that purpose, warning, “Nigeria has a bad record for keeping data. She also said that data gotten can only be used for what it was requested for and to breach of that can get the analyst sued.”
 

Figures associated with the sessions included Dr. Babatunde Ajayi, General Manager and Chief Executive Officer of the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), Owolabi Jamiu Falana, Oluwagbenga Michael Abiola, Hon. Mohammed, Mr. Thompson Oladele, Oluwatoyin Atanda, Miss Oluwakemi Oladele and Hon. Olusegun Oladele, alongside others listed in event notes.
 

YouthDesk.ai is now available as a digital platform where young people can search for verified opportunities, with one of its key features as  AI Padi, which uses artificial intelligence to provide personalised guidance and help young people navigate available opportunities and resources.