The Dare Agenda Manifesto 2026

The Five Pillars

The civic framework every Nigerian citizen is entitled to demand of their government, their political parties, and their elected representatives — drawn from the Dare Agenda Manifesto 2026.

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01
First Pillar

Collective Participation

Democracy in Nigeria can only be reclaimed by citizens who show up — at ward meetings, at primaries, at constituency offices, and at the ballot. We demand the constitutional right of every Nigerian to participate meaningfully in governance, free from intimidation, exclusion, or financial capture.

Every Nigerian citizen has the constitutional right to participate in their own governance. This right is not contingent on party membership, ethnicity, religion, or economic status.

Ward-level civic engagement

Citizens must have access to and participation in ward congresses, LGA meetings, and constituency consultations. The Dare Agenda builds the infrastructure for this.

Anti-voter intimidation

Physical and financial intimidation of voters and delegates is a criminal offence. We document incidents, support legal action, and publish the record.

Recall and removal mechanisms

Section 69 of the Constitution grants citizens the power to recall their representatives. The Dare Agenda is building the civic infrastructure to make this real.

Youth and women inclusion

Systematic exclusion of young people and women from party structures and electoral lists is unconstitutional. We monitor, document, and challenge it.

Collective Participation
Citizen Action

Register as a citizen and connect with our ward-level network in your state. Your first civic action starts with knowing who your ward chair is.

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02
Second Pillar

Economic Inclusion

Governance serves those who are seen. Budget allocations, public contracts, and legislative priorities consistently exclude the majority of Nigerians from economic participation. The Dare Agenda demands transparent budgets, tracked expenditures, and procurement processes that serve communities rather than contractors.

Public funds are citizens' funds. Every budget allocation, every contract award, and every expenditure must be disclosed, tracked, and audited — and citizens must have the tools to hold officials accountable for the gap between what was promised and what was delivered.

Budget transparency and tracking

Federal and state budgets must be published in accessible formats, with real-time expenditure reports. The Dare Agenda publishes the State Budget Tracker for all 36 states and the FCT.

Public procurement reform

Contracts must be awarded through transparent, competitive processes. We document deviations, file FOI requests, and publish findings.

Constituency development funds

CDF allocations must be accounted for. We track disbursements and deliverables in partnership with local monitors.

Anti-corruption documentation

The Citizens' Archive collects and verifies documentation of governance failures, procurement irregularities, and unexplained expenditures.

Economic Inclusion
Citizen Action

File a Freedom of Information request for your state's latest quarterly expenditure report. Our template and step-by-step guide are available in the Citizens' Archive.

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03
Third Pillar

Cultural Identity

Nigeria's extraordinary cultural diversity is its defining characteristic and its greatest civic asset. The Dare Agenda insists that governance must reflect the full breadth of Nigerian identity — protecting indigenous languages, preserving community knowledge systems, and ensuring that cultural plurality is not weaponised for political division.

Nigeria's diversity is a civic resource, not a civic liability. Governance must actively preserve and reflect the full breadth of Nigerian cultural identity — across its languages, its knowledge systems, its communities, and its histories.

Language and heritage policy

Indigenous languages are a constitutional right. We advocate for policy that funds, preserves, and elevates Nigerian languages in public life and education.

Anti-divisionism

The weaponisation of cultural, ethnic, and religious identity for electoral gain is a documented pattern in Nigerian politics. The Dare Agenda names it, tracks it, and challenges it.

Community knowledge systems

Traditional and community knowledge systems are governance assets. We document their role in local decision-making and advocate for their formal recognition.

Cultural plurality in representation

Elected officials must reflect the diversity of the communities they serve. We track representation data and publish it alongside electoral records.

Cultural Identity
Citizen Action

Read the Cultural Identity chapter of the Dare Agenda Manifesto 2026, then submit a citizen testimony if you have documented a case of identity-based electoral manipulation.

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04
Fourth Pillar

AI Readiness

Artificial intelligence is reshaping governance, elections, and public discourse at a pace that most Nigerian institutions are not equipped to navigate. The Dare Agenda demands proactive, citizen-centred policy on AI — covering misinformation, electoral manipulation, data protection, and the use of AI in public sector decision-making.

AI governance must be built on citizen rights, not corporate interests. Nigerians must be able to understand, challenge, and shape the AI systems that affect their lives — in elections, in public services, and in the platforms where civic discourse takes place.

AI and electoral integrity

AI-generated disinformation is now a documented feature of Nigerian electoral campaigns. We track, document, and publish cases, and advocate for regulation.

Data rights and the NDPA 2023

The Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 gives citizens enforceable rights. We educate citizens on these rights and advocate for effective enforcement by NITDA.

AI in public sector decision-making

Where AI systems are used in government — in policing, in benefits allocation, in licensing — citizens have the right to know. We file FOI requests and publish findings.

Digital literacy for civic participation

Meaningful civic participation increasingly requires digital literacy. The Dare Agenda's webinar series includes dedicated sessions on AI, digital rights, and online civic engagement.

AI Readiness
Citizen Action

Attend the next Dare Agenda webinar on AI and electoral integrity. Register free via the Webinar Series page.

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05
Fifth Pillar

Trust Restoration

Decades of governance failure have produced a crisis of civic trust in Nigeria. Citizens do not believe their votes count, their complaints are heard, or their institutions are honest. The Dare Agenda works to rebuild civic trust from the ground up — through verified information, documented accountability, and the slow accumulation of civic wins.

Trust between citizens and institutions must be earned through consistent, verifiable accountability. The Dare Agenda builds the infrastructure for a culture of institutional accountability — not through optimism, but through documentation, legal action, and organised civic demand.

Verified civic journalism

Every claim in the Citizen's Brief is sourced from primary documents. We do not publish what we cannot verify. The Citizens' Archive is the evidence base.

Documented civic wins

We record and publish every instance in which citizen action has produced a verifiable outcome — a budget correction, a policy change, a legal ruling. These wins matter.

Institutional accountability mapping

We map the accountability structures that exist on paper against the ones that operate in practice, and publish the gap. Citizens deserve to know the difference.

Long-term civic confidence building

Trust is rebuilt in cycles. The Dare Agenda's constituency convenings, webinar series, and brief publication are all designed to build sustained civic engagement over time.

Trust Restoration
Citizen Action

Subscribe to the Citizen's Brief and read the archive. The record of civic wins — however modest — is part of rebuilding what decades of disappointment have eroded.

Register and Act
The Dare Agenda Manifesto 2026

Read the founding document

All five pillars, with constitutional citations, governing principles, priorities, and citizen action steps — available as a free download.

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Support the Dare Institute

The Dare Agenda is free because it must be. It is sustained by Nigerians who believe the work is worth doing. Every contribution is acknowledged; every quarter, a full financial report is published.

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